Forever With You
by housecrazed1
Summary: When Marissa sees Ryan at a school dance she realizes who she really wants to be with. But is it too late? MR maybe some SS later on
1. this is what i want

Based on spoilers for an upcoming season 3 episode.

Marissa is with Volchok. Ryan is single. Seth and Summer aren't in this story but let's just say they're together and happy. Lol. This is at a school dance.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC

Marissa was starting to worry. Volchok had said he was going to get drinks at least 30 minutes ago. She knew he liked to drink but surely he'd let her know if he was expecting to get drunk and leave? These past few weeks with him had been really stressful. She no longer felt like the girlfriend. Her new roll had seemed to become the mother. And she didn't like that at all. She was barely responsible enough to take care of herself let alone some guy that had way more issues then herself. And that's saying a lot. She missed Ryan. He would never pull one of these disappearing acts that seemed to be occurring with Volchok more and more as the days went by. Ryan always seemed to be the responsible one. She guessed that was because he was used to taking care of people who needed his help. First his mom, then his brother, and Marissa hadn't done anything to help either. Looking back, Marissa did nothing but expect Ryan to make all her problems go away while they were dating. She had to admit, even though they weren't a couple anymore, she half expected him to come through those doors and fix all her problems in her life. Including Volchok. Sure, she was a selfish bitch at times but there wasn't one girl who had been raised in Newport that wasn't.

Almost as if they were joined by some force Ryan walked in, looking incredible, just as she was thinking about their past relationships. He glanced over in her direction and as soon as their eyes met he quickly turned around and started walking away. Things between them had been shaky ever since she had hooked up with Volchok. She had had enough of this. She missed him. She wanted him back and she'd be damned if she wasted another minute wallowing in her self pity when she could be getting Ryan back. To hell with Volchok. It was obvious the old spark was gone.

"Hey Ry," Ry was the nickname she had used with him when they had just started dating. Hopefully he'd catch this subtle hint she was throwing out.

"Uh, hey." Marissa stopped herself from smiling. She thought his inability to form a sentence when he was flustered or nervous was adorable. She loved him with every inch of her heart. She had just been using Volchok as a cover up until the time was right for them to get back together. She didn't know this but now as they stood only feet apart all her old feelings for him came rushing back to her. "Nice dance. Uh, the decorations are nice. Umm..." Ryan trailed off picking at his jacket sleeve. Marissa knew this was a habit of his he did whenever he was nervous.

"Oh, yeah. Um… a dance isn't really a dance if you don't... you know…. Dance." She cringed at her painstakingly obvious attempt to get him to dance with her.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ryan seemed to be getting his old confidence back once she had made the first move. A cocky half smile came onto his face as he said the three words she had been longing to hear ever since he had arrived. "You wanna dance?" he held his hand out to her to take.

She took it just like she had at the cotillion when Ryan had been her last minute escort. She smiled sweetly at him, all thoughts of Volchok racing out of her mind. As they started to sway to the music she became lost in his strong arms that were loose but tight enough to give her a sense of security. She had missed this feeling. With Volchok it was never like this. Volchok. Shit. When she took her head off Ryan's shoulder she looked over to the door and saw him glaring menacingly at Ryan. Before she could say anything to Ryan, Volchok started to walk over.

"Ryan, Volchok's coming. Let me go. He's gonna get so mad." Ryan quickly took his arms off of her and turned around just in time for Volchok to swing a hard punch at Ryan's jaw.

The force of the blow knocked Ryan unsteady but he stayed on his feet. Before Volchok could get another punch in Ryan had thrown a punch to the side of his face and pushed him so hard that he fell on his back. As Volchok hit the floor the music seemed to stop and everybody stood around the two fighting boys watching their frantic fight. Marissa was blocked from trying to get into the circle to stop the fight by the crowd of people that had formed. All she could hear were grunts from the occupants of the circle and gasps from the people around. She could also hear the horrible sound of fists hitting flesh. After what seemed forever the sounds stopped and a teacher could be heard from the inside of the circle.

"What the hell is going on here?" Dr. Kim's angry voice could be heard yelling at the two bodies on the gym floor. "I want the two of you out of this dance at once! Get out! Mr. Atwood, I'll be calling Sandy and Kirsten about this. And you, whoever you are, I don't ever want to see you on my school's property again."

The crowd dispersed as Ryan and Volchok walked out beside each other glaring daggers at each other. Ryan had a split lip and a nice shiner on his right cheekbone. Volchok was sporting a black eye and a bloody nose. Both boys hair was disheveled.

Volchok walked over to Marissa and hissed under his breath, "this is over. You and me? Done. I don't ever want to see your preppy little face again you slut. Stay away from me. You and your _boyfriend _can both go to hell." With that Volchok walked away leaving Marissa standing there.

She didn't realize she was staring at the door until Ryan came up and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Come on, let's get out of here," he said steering her towards the door.

Marissa knew that she should be feeling sad that she was just dumped in front of the majority of her school but as she walked towards her car with Ryan's arm around her waist she realized this is what she had wanted all along. And she was happy. Now her life could get back to normal. A loving family, a good future, and she finally had Ryan back in her life.

Yes, she thought, this is _definitely _what I want.


	2. facing the consequences

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the OC.

Thanks for all the reviews for the first part! I actually meant for this story to be a one shot but I got some reviews asking for more so I decided I'd finish it and tie up all the loose parts like the consequences and stuff like that. Hope you like it!

That night after Ryan had walked her home, she sat on her bed and thought about how great of a guy he really was. She could never picture Volchok doing something like that for her. He didn't care about her. The only reason he acted like he did was so she would put out for him. And as she had been in one of her rebellious stages she had. She regretted it now. But it was in the past and she wasn't going to drag it into the present so she tried to forget about it.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized how perfect she and Ryan were together. They completed each other. He kept her grounded while she let him be more care free. She wasn't sure if they were officially a couple anymore (all he had done was dance with her and walk her home) but it had just felt so good to be wrapped in his arms that night. She had been so close to kissing him goodnight at the door. She had actually lowered her head (seeing as Ryan is shorter then her) waiting for his lips to meet hers before she remembered they weren't together. _Yet. _

She was going to get him back. She knew that he wanted to be with her. Even when he was with Sadie and other girls he had gotten involved with over their time apart, whenever he was around her she always caught him staring. He'd shake his head and try to play it off but she could tell he was flustered whenever he did that. He wouldn't be flustered if he wasn't actually looking at her.

She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she thought about the things he did. The way he picked at his sleeve when he was nervous. Or how he'd grind his teeth together when he was scared but too manly to say anything. Her personal favorite was the way he'd clench his hands into fists whenever he was absolutely terrified of something. It was her favorite because it reminded her of their first kiss on top of the Ferris Wheel his first year here. He had been petrified. And it was adorable. She was supposed to have been angry with him but seeing him so out of his element seemed to melt all her anger and soon she was giving into the temptation and kissing him.

She just hoped he wouldn't get in too much trouble for getting involved in a fight at a school activity. She knew that Dr. Kim would be mad but it was nothing to what she expected the Cohen's to be. They had put so much faith in him and she guessed that the fight would be tearing down some of the trust they had accumulated with each other over the years. But they loved him and nothing could stop that. She shouldn't be worrying about this. He wouldn't be in too much trouble.

"Hello?" Sandy answered the phone in the kitchen.

"Hello Mr. Cohen. I have some bad news. This evening at the dance Ryan got into a fight." Sandy sighed. This was just what he didn't want Ryan to get into.

"Do you know who he was fighting with?" Sandy prayed it wasn't one of the people that Ryan usually got into fights with. Not after they'd drilled it through his head that he wasn't allowed to fight these preppy trust fund kids. But on the other hand, the last thing Ryan needed was another person to fight with.

"He didn't go to Harbor. He came as Marissa Cooper's date. You might know who he is, seeing as your family seems close with Marissa. I'll be calling her also to get some details on who provoked it, who the young man was, and just other information that I'll need to determine what consequences Ryan will be faced with."

"Dr. Kim, I'm not saying that Ryan shouldn't be punished. Believe me he will, but could you please try to refrain from suspending him from school? He's had so much to go through this year and another suspension would add too much stress." Sandy hoped she would say there was no way Ryan could be suspended but he knew that Ryan had been given one more chance with Dr. Kim after the whole Trey incident last summer. Sandy hated to think that Ryan had just blown it.

"I'm going to do everything I can, Sandy. But Ryan has been in this situation before and nothing seems to be getting through his head. I know he's violent but he can't just go beating up random kids." The dean sounded frustrated. Sandy was also feeling pretty annoyed with Ryan's behavior.

"I understand, Dr. Kim. Just please think about it. Once I get through with him he won't want to raise his hand to pick up a pencil, let alone throwing a punch at someone." Sandy had to convince Dr. Kim that Ryan would be getting punished. Which he would, just not as harshly as he was implying.

"I'll do my best, Sandy. But I'm not the only one who decides these things. Getting into a fist fight at a school activity is simply inappropriate. But I will plead Ryan's case with the disciplinary committee. I know he's a good kid. You should be proud, Sandy. Take care. I'll be calling to inform you of what's going on."

Sandy heard a click and realized the dean had hung up. He didn't realize he was grinding his teeth in frustration until he placed the phone down and ran a hand through his hair.

He heard the door open and went to see who it was. Hopefully it was Ryan so he could get this talk over with. He wasn't looking forward to this. Somewhere in the past year Ryan had taken to acting like their biological son. Being stubborn and talking back when he was being punished. In a way he was happy that he was comfortable enough to be himself but another part missed the quiet, overly polite Ryan. Not that he wasn't polite still. Just not so much in the house. Seth had been rubbing off on him.

As he got to the door he realized it was his more talkative son arriving home. He figured Seth had been at the dance so he might as welt try to get some information out of him.

"Seth Ezekiel. In the kitchen. Now. I have some questions for you." Sandy was going to need to be tough to get Seth to rat out on his best friend/brother.

Seth came shuffling in looking nervous. He always got this way when Sandy used his _lawyer _voice.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Ryan?" He didn't mean to be too straight forward. He knew that now Seth might try to find a reason to bail.

"Um, he got, uh, he looked really, uh tired so, uh, I guess he decided to leave early or something." Seth was stammering. Something he only did when he was trying to hold something in.

"What would have made him so tired? You guys were only there for about an hour and a half."

"Well, I know you wouldn't think this about Ryan but the guy loves dancing. Danced up a storm tonight, that guy. You should have seen him. He was like your typical ballerina only he wasn't as graceful. Came pretty close to knocking over the punch bowl a few too many times." Seth was quite animated when he was making up this lie. Sandy had to admit, if Dr. Kim hadn't called he might have believed Seth. His son was quite the liar. He could even make the most ludicrous stories seem real.

"Huh. Ryan a dancer. Are you sure there wasn't anything else? Somehow I just can't see Ryan dancing. I was there at cotillion you know. I won't forget the image of Ryan attempting to dance for quite some time." Sandy chuckled at the image of Ryan nervously shuffling around trying to keep in time to the music.

"Well, I guess he took some lessons or something. That's probably it." Seth was thinking on his feet and it was getting obvious. His lies were running short.

"And your mother and I wouldn't have noticed Ryan leaving with a pair of dancing shoes?"

"Oh father." Seth shook his head as if Sandy was talking a different language. "In this day and age you don't need dancing shoes. You can get your groove on in your everyday running shoes. Or in Ryan's case, every day boots."

"Seth, cut the crap." Sandy was tired of this. Now, not only did he want to know about the fight, he also wanted to know where Ryan really was.

"What crap! I'm telling you the truth! This is horrible. You won't even trust your own son. I can't believe this. After I've given you so much reason to trust me you turn agains…."

"I know about the fight, son. And I want some details. Ryan is going to be in a shitload…."

"Dad, don't say shit." Seth said doing a near perfect imitation of Kirsten.

Sandy just glared at him. Seth was quiet at once and bowed his head down indicating that he was ready to listen.

"As I was saying, your brother is going to be in a whole bunch of trouble. Maybe if you tell me what happened I'll make it so he won't get in as much trouble."

"Anything to help out a brotha yo." Seth said while forming his hand into the _east side _sign.

Sandy sighed. Sometimes he thought it was impossible to even try to have a serious conversation with Seth without having a sarcastic comment or a joke thrown in at every other sentence.

"Care to tell me the story?"

"Okay, well, since this is going to help Ryan out I'll be truthful with you. Marissa was there and she asked Ryan to dance I think, might have been the other ay around, and so he did. And then Volchok came in from outside. I swear you could actually see steam coming out of his ears, he was so pissed. But he's such a hypocrite. I saw him macking on some poor freshman when I got there. Poor girl. Doesn't know what she's getting into," Seth said shaking his head sadly.

"And..."

"Oh right. Yes, well, then Volchok punched Ryan and we both know that Ryan doesn't stand around and take stuff like that. Especially from people he hates. So naturally he fought back. Then they got really into it and Dr. Kim had to split it up." Seth said all this as if it was the most natural thing in the world with a wave of his hand and a shake of his head.

"That still doesn't explain where Ryan is." Sandy wanted to know where he was. Now.

"He walked Marissa home. He should be home soon," Seth said as he started to walk away. "And now father dearest, I'm feeling fatigued so I'll see you in the morning. 'Night." And with that Sandy was left alone, as Seth walked upstairs to his room, wondering what he was going to say to Ryan when he got home.

Soon enough he heard the door creak open a second time and Ryan walked into the kitchen.

"Sit. Now. You have some explaining to do," Sandy said pointing to a chair.

Ryan tentatively sat down. It was then that Sandy noticed his shiner and split lip.

"Seth already told me the story. All I want to know is why you did it. You know I don't like you fighting. And don't worry; Seth didn't make it sound like you provoked it. Am I being smart in believing him?"

Ryan instantly nodded his head.

"Okay then. Why would you do this?"

"He punched me. I wasn't going to let him get away with that."

Sandy sighed. "Kid, sometime you are gonna have to think with your head. Just because someone hits you, it doesn't give you the right to hit them. If you need to defend yourself, fine. But I don't expect you to be throwing in hard punches and tackles. Especially at a school dance!"

"I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I promise. On Monday I'll go to Dr. Kim and apologize."

"I also want you to go to the boy and apologize." Sandy knew the chances of this happening were low but he expected Ryan to be the bigger man. This meant admitting to his mistakes and apologizing for hurting the kid.

"Volchok?" Ryan scoffed. "You want me to go to _Volchok _and apologize. Are you crazy?"

"Don't talk to me that way. And no. I don't _want _you to apologize. I'm _telling you _that you're going to. No questions. First thing Monday morning you're going to apologize to Dr. Kim. Then you're going to go over to this boy's house and apologize to him to. Even if he started it."

"Whatever," Ryan rolled his eyes. Sandy was getting frustrated.

"Don't roll your eyes at me! And don't _whatever _me either!"

"Sorry. I'll go apologize to both of them on Monday. I'm really tired though; can I go to bed now?" Sandy believed Ryan when he said he would apologize to Dr. Kim _and _this Volchok kid. Ryan was the worst liar in the world and right now he was telling the truth.

"Sure. But I want you to know, you're grounded. That means no playstation, no TV, no phone, and no Marissa." At the mention of Marissa's name Sandy noticed the smile that quickly swept across Ryan's face.

"OK. Goodnight Sandy."

Ryan was a good kid. Sandy new that. If only Ryan would keep his fists to himself they'd have no problems. But Ryan being Ryan, Sandy knew that would never happen.

TBC

Hope you liked it. It's longer then what I usually do. I was going to split it up into two separate chapters but I decided to just post it all together. Kirsten will probably be in this story sometime. I just didn't have the time to work her into it yet.

Please remember to review!

Thanks.


	3. saying you're sorry

Thanks for all the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC

Ryan pulled up to Volchok's place. It was a grungy little trailer that couldn't have been much bigger then the pool house. He resented Sandy for making him do this. Didn't he know that nothing good was going to come out of this? He knew Sandy thought he was fixing the situation but he was doing nothing but making it worse. Volchok was going to be mad that he had basically stolen his girlfriend from right under his nose. He didn't blame him though. Marissa was gorgeous and any guy that was with her was the luckiest guy in the world. With her beautiful honey blonde hair that sparkled in the sun and her big doe eyes that mesmerized him every time he looked into them. And of course he couldn't forget her kindness. She had always been there for him.

Ryan had gotten so caught up in thinking about Marissa that he didn't notice that Volchok had pulled into the driveway until he shoved passed him, forcefully brushing his shoulder up against Ryan's.

"Came for another round? Was last night not enough for you? I'll happily kick your ass again." Volchok sneered at Ryan. He was trying to get him mad and he knew it.

Don't listen to him, Ryan thought, if you get into another fight when you're supposed to be apologizing Sandy would be more than pissed.

"First of all, seeing as all I got from that fight was a small shiner and a spit lip whereas you came out of it with a black eye and bleeding nose, I'd say that I was the one who kicked your ass. And also, I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to call a truce." With this being said Ryan stuck his hand out towards Volchok waiting for him to shake it.

Volchok sneered at Ryan's waiting hand.

"Do you actually think I want to make a truce with you? I get a real kick out of kicking your ass. I'm not about to give that up just to make you happy." He stuck his hands behind his back indicating that there was no way in hell he was shaking.

"Why don't you just drop the whole _I can kick your ass _thing you've got going on." Ryan lowered his hand. "We've already covered this. And if you don't wanna truce that's fine by me. The only reason I came here was because unlike you, when I make a promise I keep it. And I made a promise that I would try to stop whatever shit there is that's been going on between us."

"You wanna know what this shit is that's between us?" Volchok took a step closer to Ryan but he stood his ground, not backing away. "First you decide you're gonna steal my girlfriend. And then you decide to get into a fight with me. You butt into my life and won't leave. I don't like you. I don't care about you. I don't wanna see you …ever…again." Volchok added a hard shove to Ryan's chest with the last 2 words.

"If you think I like you, and I care about you, and I like seeing you, you must be even stupider then I thought you were." Ryan took a step closer so they were practically nose to nose. "And don't you ever touch me again."

With a smirk Volchok gently shoved Ryan again. "Looks like I just did. You gonna try to stop me? Or are you afraid that _mommy and daddy _will be upset if you do?"

Ryan was trying to keep his anger under check but Volchok was really pushing it. He shoved Volchok back causing Volchok to stumble backwards against the trailers door.

"You fucker…" Volchok said as lunged toward Ryan knocking him down the stairs.

Ryan hit his head against the stone steps causing his head to spin and little black dots to appear in front of his eyes giving Volchok an unfair advantage. He tried to get a punch in but his head was aching so bad that he was barely able to get his arm off the ground. Volchok continued to punch him in the stomach, the face, and any other spot that was convenient for a punch. Ryan curled up into the fetal position wanting nothing more then to just be swallowed up into the ground beneath him. This was pure agony. At least 3 of his ribs were already cracked, if not broken completely. His head was pounding so fiercely he could hardly keep his eyes open and when Volchok stood up and started kicking him in the ribs he had to bite his tongue so hard that it started to bleed to keep the tears from coming out. After what seemed like forever the kicks stopped and Ryan was left alone to find his way home. It was only around noon now but being in as much pain as he was, he figured it would take a long time to get home. He tried to stand up but soon realized that every bone in his body felt like it was on fire. He was still dizzy from the blows to his head and he was having a hard time balancing and keeping his eyes open. He came to the conclusion that he probably had a mild concussion.

A vibrating in his front pocket startled him. He realized it was his phone and as he took it out he saw it was Sandy. Ryan wasn't in the mood to talk to Sandy right now. He wouldn't have been able to keep the pain undetected in his voice if he had answered.

Well, he thought, he's gonna find out eventually. With the amount of bruises he had he knew it was going to be near impossible to keep Sandy from finding out.

Scratch that. Not _near _impossible. Most defiantly, 100 impossible.

As Ryan's eyes began to droop closed he decided he'd rest his eyes for a bit before he made his way back to the Cohen's. The last thing he saw before he was enveloped in black was Volchok looking worriedly out the window from behind the curtain.

"Ugghhhhh," Ryan groaned as his eyes opened. He was no longer on the driveway. As he looked at his surroundings he realized he was in a bed. Not a comfortable bed but it was better then the cold, hard pavement he had been on before.

"Good. You're awake," a voice sounded from beside him.

At first the voice didn't register in his head but soon he realized it belonged to the very last person he wanted to be near when he was this disadvantaged.

"What the fuck do you want?" Ryan managed to get out. He realized his voice was no more then a whisper. It hurt too much to talk any louder.

"I brought you in. I left you out there for awhile. I though you'd wake up on your own. But then it got dark and I didn't want to have a beat up body outside my place. Wouldn't look good if the cops came by," Volchok answered with what could have been the beginning of a smile. "But you're up now. So unless you think you can't stand up I see no reason for you to be here anymore." He got up and opened the door gesturing to Ryan to get out.

Ryan tried to stand up but his head still ached and he was still incredibly tired.

Shit. "How long have I been out of it?"

"Uh, I brought you in about 6 hours ago. You were out there for 1 and a half before I brought you in."

Shit.

Ryan put his head in his hands and sighed.

"Get out now. I'm not running a bed and breakfast. The only reason I even let you in here was because I didn't want to be arrested for this."

How nice, Ryan thought to himself.

"I'm leaving. And uh, thanks I guess for letting me uh, you know, stay here for awhile," Ryan somehow managed to get up and get through the door.

"If you blame me for this, it's gonna be 5 times as bad as _this_ for you……don't say I didn't warn you." And with that Volchok shut the door on Ryan.

Ryan smirked. He had dealt with guys much worse then Volchok. This was just like a little trip down memory lane for him. If Volchok thought he was intimidating Ryan then he was an idiot.

It was then that Ryan realized he didn't have a way to get home. His bike was trashed, courtesy of Volchok, he guessed.

He took out his cell phone and punched in a number.

"Hello?"

"Marissa."

"Oh my god, Ryan! Where are you? Sandy's been calling me constantly asking me if I knew where you were. Are you okay?"

"Uh, not really. I need you to pick me up."

"Of course. I can leave right away. Just tell me where you are and I'll be th…"

She was cut off by a hiss of pain on the other end.

"Ryan? Are you okay?" Marissa was gripping the phone with both hands. Ryan was always the one coming to _her _rescue. The roles had been reversed.

"Yeah. Just my ribs. And my head kind of hurts."

"Okay, where are you? I'm coming right now. You don't sound good."

"Volchok's."

"Volchok's?"

"Yeah. I came here to apologize for last night and, uh, I guess he didn't accept it." Ryan's voice was so quiet Marissa had to cover her other ear so she could hear what was going on at Ryan's side of the phone.

"I'll be there in 10. Stay right where you are Ryan," Marissa hung up the phone, and raced outside to her car not even bothering to wake up her mom to let her know where she was going. She had to show Ryan that she could be the one to take charge. He needed her help for the first time and she was going to make sure she gave it to him.

Ryan had lain down on the ground again, his legs not being able to support him for more then 5 minutes at a time. There was something wrong with his ankle. It was blue and swollen and throbbed every time he moved it. He tried counting the number of ribs he had broken but he stopped once he got to 5. Even though it wasn't a big number his head hurt too much to keep counting. Soon enough, Marissa's red convertible pulled into the driveway and as soon as it had stopped she was out the door and rushing to his side. As soon as she saw his face she gasped.

"Oh my god! Did Volchok do this to you?" she asked with her hands covering her mouth and concern lacing her voice.

Ryan just nodded, scared that if he said anything his voice might betray how much pain he was actually in.

"Come on, I'll help you get up. And don't worry, Volchok isn't going to get away with this. Let's get you home right now. Sandy is worried sick!"

She gently took him under his arms and started to pull upwards. Ryan clenched his eyes shut and bit his lip trying to lessen the pain. Marissa must have noticed because she immediately asked if she was hurting him. Ryan lied and shook his head. Once she got him into her car he put his head against the headrest and closed his eyes.

"Ryan. Stay awake. I read somewhere that if you have a concussion you're not supposed to fall asleep. I don't want to take any chances with you. I love you too much," Marissa whispered the last part.

Ryan couldn't help but smile even if it hurt him to. "Love you to" was all he managed to get out before the pain once again became too much and he was forced to sop moving or talking.

The ride to the Cohen's was silent except for Ryan's ragged breathing. He noticed Marissa glancing over at him frequently as if to make sure he was still there. Once they got there, Marissa honked her horn hoping to wake up at least one of the Cohen's so they could help her get Ryan out of the car. Immediately Sandy and Kirsten came out soon followed by a sleepy looking Seth.

"Oh my god!" Kirsten gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as soon as she saw Ryan much like Marissa's reaction had been.

Sandy didn't say anything but instead ran over to the car and opened Ryan's door.

Seth just stood under the porch light looking on in horror as his mother and father helped Marissa get his brothers bloody and bruised body out of the front seat.

"What the hell happened to him?" Kirsten had started crying, silent tears streaming down her face.

"I couldn't get anything out of him. He was pretty out of it when I got there. All I know is that Volchok did this to him. He told me he was trying to apologize and Volchok didn't accept it. Obviously," Marissa answered putting one of Ryan's arms around her shoulders helping Sandy and Kirsten steer him towards the front door.

"Thank you so much Marissa. Who knows what could have happened if you hadn't been there for him," Sandy said to Marissa, not taking his eyes off Ryan.

"No problem. I really need to get home now Ryan. I want you to call me as soon as you're feeling better. I'll be over tomorrow to see how your doing." She glanced at Kirsten to make sure this was okay. Kirsten just nodded her head and turned her mouth up in a small smile. "I love you, Ryan."

Ryan faintly smiled as she said those 3 words. He loved hearing that. "I love you to." He managed to get out one more time that night before he was steered into the house.

"Man, what happened?" Seth kneeled in front of Ryan looking into his eyes. Ryan could see the concern shining through.

"Seth, we need to let him rest right now. I don't think he'll need a hospital but tomorrow I'm going to take him in just in case," Sandy said gently pushing Seth away fro Ryan.

"I want him in a hospital as soon as we can get him into one, Sandy. I want him in tonight. He doesn't look good. He is badly hurt! I want him under some professional care. If not just for the night," Kirsten crossed her arms. Something she did whenever she had made her mind up about something.

Sandy agreed it was best to get him to a hospital sooner rather then later if he was going to go at all so he sent Seth to go get a phone and dial 911. he knew Ryan wouldn't want to go to the hospital.

Kirsten sat down beside Ryan and he laid his head down on her shoulder. Sandy looked at his wife and the boy he now considered his son and couldn't help but feel guilty. If he hadn't forced Ryan to go apologize to this _motherfucker _then Ryan wouldn't be this hurt.

"They should be here within 15 minutes, dad," Seth said re-entering the living room holding the phone up.

While the 4 of them waited for the ambulance to arrive the only sound that could be heard was Ryan's labored breathing and Kirsten's quiet sobs.

When the doorbell rang the 3 Cohen's jumped. Not one of them had noticed that Ryan had fallen asleep during the wait.

"I'll get it," Sandy stood up and went to answer the door. "Thanks for coming so fast," he said to the paramedics as he opened the door for them. Immediately 5 of them were swarming inside the house and running towards Ryan.

"This him?" A female paramedic asked pointing to the unconscious Ryan.

Kirsten nodded.

"How long has he been unconscious?" The same paramedic asked as they other 4 strapped Ryan onto the gurney.

"He was awake when he got here. That was bout 25 minutes ago. We didn't really notice he had fallen asleep. I wouldn't say a long time though. At the most 10 minutes." Kirsten answered wringing her hands together watching the paramedics trying to wake Ryan.

"Heartbeat is steady. His breathing sounds a little labored," one of the paramedics working on Ryan called out.

"Check for his pulse. Make sure it's not too slow," the paramedic talking with Kirsten called out.

"Pulse is good. We're all set to go."

"Aright. Which one of you is coming in the ambulance?" the female paramedic (Kirsten now noticed her nametag which said Stacy on it) asked gesturing towards Sandy and Kirsten.

"I'll go," Sandy said stepping forward. "Bring Seth in the car. I'll meet you guys there." Kirsten nodded and kissed him on the cheek before he left with the paramedics.

As Sandy watched the paramedics wheel a still unconscious Ryan out the door he couldn't help but think about how a trip to the hospital had been the absolute last thing he had expected when he had told Ryan he had to apologize.

That was long for me. LOL. Hope its okay. Sorry, I don't know how paramedics talk and I was kind of rushing through that part (I'm sure it shows) so sorry about that part.

Don't forget to review!


	4. a trip to the hospital

Sorry it took me a while to get an update up. I had absolutely no ideas! It was crazy. Lol. But anyway here it is. Nothing much happens in this chapter just sort of a hospital trip but more will happen in the near future. Oh, and I didn't forget that this is a Ryan and Marissa story. She just isn't in this chapter. But she is still a main character so no; I didn't forget what this story was supposed to be about. And also check out my other story Alone and Confused. And don't forget to review! It helps me write! I wasn't going to update this story tonight but then I read the reviews and I decided I should so here it is. Sorry for this. On with the story!

"Hello Sandy Cohen, I presume?" A male doctor in white scrubs walked out of a room and came towards the three waiting Cohen's.

"Yes. I'm Sandy, this is my wife Kirsten, and this is our other son Seth." The doctor shook each of their hands as Sandy introduced them.

"My name is Dr. Hugh Glory. I've been working on Ryan."

"How is he?" Kirsten asked as she held onto Sandy's hand. It was obvious that she had been crying. Her makeup was smudged and her eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot.

"He's going to be fine. Six of his ribs are cracked but with time they'll heal completely. His ankle is pretty badly sprained but we've secured it with a splint. He should be able to walk on it without the splint in about two weeks. But the thing I'm most worried about is his head. When he was brought in he wasn't able to form coherent sentences. I don't think he'll forget anything but I'd rather be safe then sorry, so we're going to keep him here overnight. By the looks of it he hit his head pretty damn hard. We've had to put 13 stitches in. He should be set to go by tomorrow evening. I don't want him to walk on his bad ankle if he can help it and if you can't avoid it, any strenuous activity has to be supervised. I know the stitches are in his head but you'd be surprised how easily head stitches rip."

"Can we see him now?" Seth asked stepping up to the doctor.

"We've put him on a sedative so he should be asleep. Even if he's not he's going to be extremely drowsy. But if you want, you can go in and sit with him. I'm only supposed to let one person in at a time but as long as you guys don't start throwing things around in there I'll keep my mouth shut." Dr. Glory gave them all a friendly smile.

"Thank you," Sandy said returning the doctors smile.

A beeping sounded and Dr. Glory reached into his pocket. "I've got to go check on another patient. Ryan's right through that door," he pointed to a door directly behind the Cohen's. "I'll be up later to check up on him again."

As Dr. Glory walked away Seth spoke up. "Okay, so all this happened because Ryan tried to apologize? Wow, I'm not ever going to apologize again, if it means I'm going to end up in a hospital with a concussion and cracked ribs, and the ankle thing, and whatever else is wrong with Ryan."

"Let's go you two. I'm sure Ryan wants to see us." Kirsten gently pushed Seth and Sandy into the room where Ryan was.

When they walked into the room, it was a lot better then they had been expecting. Ryan was under the covers so you couldn't see the brace to keep him from moving his torso. A white bandage was wrapped around his head pushing his hair up away from his eyes which were closed. If he hadn't had all the wires and IV's attached to him, it would have just looked like he was asleep.

Seth walked up to Ryan and tapped him on the shoulder. "Ryan buddy, wake up."

"Seth," both Sandy and Kirsten said at the same time.

"He needs his rest, son. Let him sleep." Sandy walked forward and led Seth away from Ryan.

Sandy pulled up three chairs for them to sit on. The three of them sat talking together of what they were going to do about Volchok. Seth wanted to get together some big, tough guys from Chino to beat the living daylights out of him. Sandy wanted to bring Volchok to court to sue him. Kirsten just wanted to talk to him. Try to figure out what was making him angry and violent. She knew he was still just a kid and thought that he had just made a mistake. Of course she was mad about what he had done to Ryan but when Ryan had first come to live with them he had also been angry and violent and had turned out to be an amazing kid. Maybe Volchok was the same. Maybe with some guidance and discipline he could turn out like Ryan had...

All three of them jumped when Ryan moaned from the bed. Immediately Kirsten was at his side with a hand on his arm, closely followed by a worried Seth and Sandy.

"Honey, are you in pain? Do you want me to call a nurse?" Kirsten gently whispered to Ryan. She knew that his concussion would give him a pretty severe headache so she didn't want to talk to loud to make it any worse.

Ryan tried swatting away her hand. He was still asleep and he seemed to be caught in a dream.

"No," he murmured. "I don't want anymore shrimp."

Seth laughed. "Phew. For a minute there I thought he was having a horrible nightmare about someone beating the crap out of him or something. Appears to just be something about shrimp."

Sandy chuckled and even Kirsten had to try to keep the smile off her face. She was relieved he wasn't having a nightmare but that didn't mean he wasn't still in pain.

"Well, since it doesn't look like Ryan will be waking up anytime soon why don't we all get some rest? I doubt that all three of us will be allowed to stay the night here but to hell with rules. No one has kicked us out yet. Let's take advantage of that," Sandy said settling back into his chair.

"That sounds good." Kirsten sat down next to Sandy and snuggled into his shoulder.

"Well, since you two seem to be comfortable I'll take the couch. Goodnight." Before Sandy or Kirsten could argue Seth was already on the couch and under an extra blanket.

The next morning, Kirsten was first up. She looked over at Seth and saw that his entire upper body was hanging off the couch. His arms were over his head and he was facing the ceiling. She would never understand how her son was able to sleep in that kind of a position. Next she looked over at Sandy and found him in almost the exact same position as he was the night before. The only thing different was his head drooping onto his chest. She slowly got up as to not wake him up and walked over to Ryan. He was also in the same position and she was happy to see that he had a calm, relaxed expression on his face. She figured everybody would be hungry once they all woke up so she went downstairs to get some breakfast for them all.

While she was gone Sandy woke up. He looked at his watch and read the time. 7:13. It was early. But then again these chairs were so uncomfortable he was surprised that he had been able to fall asleep at all. Soon after Seth started to stir.

"Dad? What time is it?" Seth asked as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms up above his head.

"7:30. Ryan should be up soon."

Right as he said that there was a low groan from the bed. Immediately Seth and Sandy were at Ryan's side asking if he was in pain? Was he hungry? How was he feeling?

"Mmmm, I'm good. Just a little sore I guess. What happened anyway?" Ryan interrupted the two Cohen men halfway through their questioning as he opened his eyes.

"You don't remember?" Sandy asked with his eyebrows knitting together in worry.

"The last thing I remember was being on somebody's driveway." Ryan had a look on his face as if he was trying hard to remember something. "Oh wait. Yeah, it was Volchok's driveway. Yeah I remember that. I also remember waking up in his bed."

Seth snorted from the side. "Got a little action did we? I'm just a little irked that it was with another guy. Volchok at that. But it's your prerogative. You do as you wish."

Ryan just glared at him from his bed.

"I was kidding, man. But it's good to see you've still got the look."

Ryan just continued to glare at him until Sandy spoke up and started questioning Ryan once again on how he was feeling.

"I'm feeling fine, Sandy. I'd tell you if I wasn't. You don't have to keep worrying."

"Kid, it's my job to worry about you. Even when you're not lying in the hospital I'm going to worry about you. This just sort of added to it. Nothing I can do about it. Sorry, but you're just going to have to live with this. Seth is used to it by now."

"That is very true, father. But, I have had 17 years to come to terms with your overbearing parenting."

"I am not overbearing."

Seth just snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe only sometimes. But it's only because I love you."

"Okay, it's getting gayer in here by the second. First Ryan admits to waking up in Volchok's bed."

"I didn't wake up in his bed! I mean I did but it was only because I was knocked out and had no where else to go. And since it was his fault I guess he felt guilty," Ryan interrupted.

"You like it rough, eh?" Seth wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"As soon as I'm out of here Seth, you are a dead man."

Seth ignored him and continued. "And now you dad. Men don't tell other men they love each other." Seth thought for a minute, "Unless their gay. Which I have absolutely no problem with."

At that moment Kirsten walked in with three cups of steaming coffee balancing precariously on her one arm as she used her other to open the door. She tiptoed into the room and eased the door closed not realizing the three boys were staring at her.

"Hey sweetie." Sandy said in a bright voice.

Kirsten immediately turned around and when she saw the three men looking at her she covered her chest with her hand.

"God, Sandy. You scared me."

"Sorry. So are those coffees for us to? Or did you stock up for yourself."

"They're for all of us. But I'm not sure if Ryan's allowed to have coffee while he's still in the hospital so none of us will be having _any _coffee until I find out from Dr. Glory."

"Mom, he's in the hospital for a head wound. He didn't have surgery or anything else major. I don't think it would kill him if he had small cup of coffee," Seth said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well," Kirsten said completely ignoring her son's tone, "just to be safe, I'm going to go check with the doctor."

"But you just got them. Why would you bring them in here if you weren't going to let us have any?" Seth asked.

"Well, I guess it would be okay. Ryan, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. My head just hurts a little."

"Well, Dr. Glory said that's to be expected. You'll probably be feeling sore for the next couple days at the least. But don't you worry. Plenty of bed rest and fluids and you'll be back to your former self." Kirsten handed them each a cup of coffee as she was saying all this.

"What do fluids have to do with broken ribs and a cut on the head?" Seth spoke up from the couch he was sitting on.

"Seth, don't be a smartass."

"Mom, I wasn't being a smartass, I was just stating the obvious."

No one spoke up. Sandy started talking to Kirsten about how they'd split some time off to stay with Ryan as he was recuperating, while Seth filled Ryan in on what summer had done the previous day.

"Seth, I've been in here a night. I'm positive I didn't miss anything important."

"Yeah I know. But I always like to be in the know. Figured you would to."

Ryan just sighed and closed his eyes trying to get some sleep. As long as Seth thought he still had an audience he wouldn't stop talking and probably wouldn't bother waking Ryan up.

When the doctor came in that evening Ryan was asleep and Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth were all talking. When the three of them saw the doctor they got up.

"Well, Ryan seems to be doing well. You can take him home tonight. I'm going to give you a prescription for some painkillers and if you need anything, if he's in pain or if he gets s fever, I want you to call me right away. I'm also going to give you gauze to put over his stitches. I want you to check them every 8 hours just to make sure they're still in tact. And like I said before, I don't want him moving around too much. That would be too much for his ribs. Keep him off his feet as much as you can and give him these painkillers I'm subscribing when he wakes up and before he goes to sleep. I also want you to bring him in for a checkup in about a week just to check his stitches and his concussion. If he appears to be sleeping more then he usually does make sure he remembers where he is, who he is, just basic stuff like that. It was nice meeting you all. I hope I don't see you too often." Dr. Glory said with a smile before handing Sandy a piece of paper with Ryan's subscriptions written on it.

"Thank you doctor. I'll see you in a week for his checkup," Kirsten said shaking his hand.

"Okay, let's go home. I'll wake up Ryan and you two go get the car ready," Kirsten said to Seth and Sandy pointing towards the door.

As the two men walked out the door Kirsten walked over to Ryan's sleeping form and gently nudged him.

"Ryan lets go. Time to wake up."

Ryan groaned and then covered his head with his blankets. "Just 5 more minutes, Kirsten."

Kirsten smiled. "Ryan, wouldn't you rather sleep in your own bed?"

"No," Ryan answered. It sounded like he was pouting but Kirsten couldn't be sure. She had never seen Ryan pout so she didn't know what he was like when he did.

"Well, that's too bad. You don't really have a choice. But be careful when you're getting up. I don't want you to hurt your ribs."

"Yeah, and you forcing me out of bed isn't going to hurt them at all." Ryan said sarcastically.

After waiting for 10 minutes he finally dragged himself out of bed and Kirsten helped him into the bathroom to change into his street clothes. When he limped out Kirsten couldn't help but smile at his appearance. His hair looked as if he had just been through a hurricane and his bottom lip was sticking out in a child like pout. She would never tell him but she thought he looked adorable. She knew that wasn't what he was going for.

"Good, you're ready. Let's go. Seth and Sandy have been waiting for a long time now." She wrapped and arm around his waist supporting him.

He sullenly walked out with her and into the car. He climbed into the backseat next to Seth and leaned against the window.

"Nice hair, buddy. It looks awesome," Seth said with a big grin on his face.

"Shut up, Seth."

"Touchy, touchy."

"Seth leave Ryan alone. He's had a rough weekend." Kirsten piped up from the front seat ending Seth's teasing.

When they finally arrived at the Cohen's house Ryan was the first one out. He slammed the car door closed before limping up to the front door and slamming that shut to. Sandy, Seth, and Kirsten just started at the now closed door.

"Well…" Sandy began.

"What crawled up his butt and died?" Seth said from the backseat.

"Seth, anyone who just had a weekend like his, has reason to be a little grumpy," Kirsten said sticking up for Ryan.

"Honey, that was more then a _little_ grumpy." Sandy said hiding a smile.

"Well, we're just going to have to deal with it. Ryan's never been sick or unable to do what he usually does in the house so maybe he gets surly when he's bed ridden."

"Mom, you call that surly? All that door slamming and brooding. Ugh, I don't even want to think about what he's doing right now. Probably turning the house upside down as we speak. I think that hospital visit has unleashed Ryan's inner hulk," Seth leaned forward through the front seats so he was directly in the middle of his parents.

"Well, lets go inside, make sure our house hasn't tuned into a war zone," Sandy started to get out of the car.

"Ryan against the furniture. I'd like to see that. The furniture would have Ryan wishing he'd never been born."

"Seth, don't tease Ryan for the next few days okay? Just let him relax," Kirsten said getting out of the passengers side followed by Seth who had crawled through to the front and gotten out after Kirsten.

"I'll leave him alone. Don't worry."

"Good. Now let's go help your father with Ryan."

"Ryan's gonna hate you for the next week. If you're anything like what you're normally like when someone is bedridden, he's going to be in hell for the next week."

"Seth, I am not that bad."

Seth snorted. "Sure you aren't," he said sarcastically. "Let's just ask Ryan at the end of this week. Come to think of it, if you're gonna be keeping him from seeing Marissa maybe _we'll be_ the ones to be going through hell while he's stuck at home."

"Well," Kirsten said putting an arm around his shoulders, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

I know it's not very good but I had to get the whole hospital thing over with because I have other ideas that don't involve a hurt Ryan. Sooooooooo please review! Next chapter will hopefully be up soon! And that chapter will have some good twists to it I hope. Maybe not though lol. I'm not making any promises but it will be good.


	5. the monster within

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC

"Hello?" Seth answered the phone in the kitchen on the third ring.

"Hey Seth…" the voice on the other end was shaking with emotion.

"Marissa. What's up?"

"I just want to… you know…. I wanted to know how Ryan was doing. Maybe see if he wanted some company…." Her voice rose with hope that Ryan would be up to seeing her. She wasn't sure if he was mad or not. She thought that he should be since she was the reason Volchok beat him up. If she hadn't danced with Ryan then Volchok wouldn't have seen them. She should have waited to break things off with him first. But Ryan had said he loved her a few days ago. He wouldn't say that if he didn't mean it. That just wasn't Ryan. She felt horrible. She hadn't even gone to visit him in the hospital. He had only been there for a night and a bit but she still felt guilty for not going to see him.

"Hold on Marissa. I'll go check. He still hasn't been out of the pool house today. But just let me warn you….. even if he's up to the company I think you may want to reconsider."

Marissa just raised her eyebrows in confusion but didn't say anything, waiting for Seth to continue on his own as she knew he would.

"He's gone all all-temper-tantrum-mopey-broody-sulky-teenager. I guess you could say he's finally acting like a normal teenager but if you only like the sweet polite Ryan we all know and love then you will most definitely be in for a shock."

"Thanks Seth," Marissa smiled on the other end. "But I think I'll take that chance. Could you just tell him it's me, see if he wants to do something today?"

"I highly doubt my mom will let him out. Not for a looong time. But you could probably come over here and maybe play nurse with him. I'm sure he'd love that."

"Uh, yeah. Just… go ask him Seth."

"I'm on it."

Marissa waited on the other end for Seth to come back. She could only hear muffled voices on Seth's side of the phone and she couldn't tell if it was Ryan or not.

"Marissa?" A deep voice answered this time.

"Ryan…. how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling okay. My ribs are a little bit sore but that's it."

"That's good…." There was an awkward silence. Marissa couldn't stand awkward silences. Especially with Ryan. Just as she was about to talk he broke in.

"Do you wanna do something today?"

"Yeah. That sounds great. What do you feel up to doing? I don't want to make you do anything that will just hurt you more."

"Well, Kirsten's basically put me on house arrest until I'm completely recovered so I don't think I'll be able to do anything outside of the house for a pretty long time. So how about you come over?"

" Sure. I'll be there in 10 minutes."

"K. I love you." Marissa loved it when he said those words first. It was so unlike him to show his emotions. She was almost positive that she was the only person who he could say "I love you" to so easily.

"I love you to," she said with a smile on her face.

Ryan smiled on the other end. Nobody had been able to convince him to get out of bed and into the main house but when Seth had come barging in and told him Marissa was on the phone he had gotten up straight away. Even though it had been barely two days since they had seen each other it always felt like more.

Seth came into the kitchen to see Ryan still standing at the corner with a wide grin spread across his face.

"Well. I'm very glad to see someone had been able to chase that horrible cookie monster out of you."

Ryan looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "Cookie monster?"

"Yeah, that mean, grumpy guy on Sesame Street. He's green. Lives in a garbage can."

"That's Oscar. The cookie monster is the purple one."

"Oscar. Right. Well, whatever. You got what I was going for. But by the way, how do you know your Sesame Street puppets so well? I watched that show when I was little but I don't remember the names of all of them. I find it a little weird that you do." Seth looked suspiciously at Ryan who just rolled his eyes.

"I have a good memory. And it's also not that hard to remember that the cookie monster is purple and not green."

"Whatever. That's beside the point."

"There was a point to this?"

"Um…" Seth thought for a minute. "I've forgotten it. But hold on, it'll come back to me."

Ryan once again rolled his eyes waiting for Seth to remember. Even thought he sometimes acted like Seth's ramblings and pointless talks annoyed him he actually found them very amusing.

"Ah-ha!" Seth yelled startling Ryan out of his thoughts. " I said that I was glad that Marissa was able to chase that cookie monster out of you but then you corrected me and told me that it was actually Oscar who was the mean grouchy one and the cookie monster that was the purple one and I'm guessing he liked cookies since his name has the word cookie in it so it would only make sense and so the point I was trying to get across to you before we sort of got off topic was that I'm very happy that Marissa was able to drag you out of that pool house and make you do something. Did I ever tell you the story about my great aunt who broke her leg and just stayed cooped up in her house all the time?" Seth didn't wait for an answer before continuing his rant. " Well, once she got out she died. She died Ryan because she was so unused to the outdoors it was suddenly like a new concept to her," Seth finished dramatically.

Ryan stared at him like he was some sort of alien. He would never understand how Seth could fit so many words into one sentence without even taking a breath. "Uh okay. Wait did you say she died because she had been inside for so long?"

Seth vigorously nodded his head.

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Ryan! I am telling you the truth! Would I lie to you? No I would not."

Ryan just looked at Seth with a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

"Okay so she didn't die. But when she walked outside it was really bright and I'm pretty sure she hurt her eyes. You know not permanently or anything. But you know when you can't get rid of those dots if you step into a bright room after spending lots of time in the dark? Well, that's what happened to her."

The doorbell rang saving Ryan from trying to wrap his mind out of what had just come spilling out of Seth's mouth.

"I'll get it." With that Ryan was making his way to the front door. He still had a bit of a limp but he was used to walking on damaged bones so he could barely feel the pain. Sandy and Kirsten didn't like him walking on it but he assured them it was fine. And they weren't able to watch him 24/7.

When he opened the door he found Marissa looking stunning as usual. He took a minute to take her all in. She was wearing a short denim skirt with a brown belt tied loosely around the waist of it. She had on dark brown flats and a red tank top. With her hair pulled back out of her face Ryan thought she looked absolutely perfect.

"Hey Ryan." she enveloped him in a hug before he could even respond. He noticed that she was holding him loosely so as not to hurt him.

"Hey." He wrapped his arms around her as well squeezing a little tighter.

Marissa broke away from the hug. "I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital. I should have. I felt awful about it. I didn't want you to thi…."

"Hey, its okay. I wasn't allowed visitors anyway. Other then the Cohen's I mean. And besides I was only in there for a day." He smiled reassuringly at her.

She smiled back at him happy that he wasn't upset.

"How about we go back to the pool house?" Ryan asked wrapping an arm around her hips and gently leading her over to the patio.

"That sounds great." Marissa smiled leaning into his shoulder. Together they walked out towards the pool house. They had waited so long to be together and Marissa didn't want to rush things but she couldn't wait to feel his lips pressed against hers again. She loved that feeling. Every time it always sent a chill up her spine and an overwhelming sense of security.

They made there way into the pool house and laid down on Ryan's bed. For a minute they just lay there and stared at the ceiling just savoring the moment. When Marissa could no longer resist the temptation of being in a bed with Ryan she snuggled up closer and tentatively pushed her lips against his. When she felt him respond by gently kissing her back she pressed into it more, making the kiss more passionate. She knew she couldn't go too far for two reasons. 1- Ryan was still hurt. He had only been back for a night and 2- the Cohen's were due home at any minute and she was not up to another embarrassing moment of being walked in on.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and gently laid her body on his making sure to support the majority of her weight. She could feel his hands sliding up the back of her shirt and rubbing small circles on her back. This drove her crazy every time he did it to her. She loved it. As she got lost in the kiss she leaned down on him forgetting about his ribs. She immediately pulled back when she felt his breath hitch in pain.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry Ryan. I completely forgot." She covered her mouth with her hand embarrassed that she had gotten so into it that she had forgotten he was hurt.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I just have to be more careful."

"Ryan?" Sandy walked into the pool house not bothering to knock. Marisa quickly got off Ryan's bed and straightened her shirt trying her hardest not to make it obvious to Sandy what they had just been doing. Ryan was doing the same on his bed, adjusting his shirt and smoothing out the sheets.

Sandy looked around and slightly raised an eyebrow in question before brushing it off. "Dinner's ready Ryan. Marissa, you're more then welcome to stay."

"Thanks Sandy, but my mom wanted me home soon."

"Oh okay. Well, Ryan I want you inside in 5 minutes."

Ryan just nodded. He knew he had been acting like a brat towards Sandy, Kirsten and Seth but Marissa had significantly cheered him up. That and the fact that just before she had gotten here he had taken some of his painkillers.

"I'll call you tomorrow Ryan," Marissa said after Sandy had walked out.

"Okay," Ryan got up and warped his arms against her waist pushing is body into hers and giving her a long sweet kiss before she was on her way.

She pulled back smiling. "I actually have to go now. Bye." She gave a little wave before walking through the door.

"What's for dinner?" Ryan asked cheerfully as he opened the doors to the main house. All three Cohen's looked up at him in surprise. He had barely spoken to them since he got home and when he had, he had only spoken in monosyllables. With the exception of Seth from time to time.

"Uh," Kirsten was the first to recover from this slight shock and continued setting the table. "I tried making a pot roast."

"Sounds good." Ryan walked over to the cabinet and took out four glasses before walking over to the table and placing them each on their respective spots. Once again the other family members stared at him. It had only been for a short amount of time but a grumpy Ryan could get very grumpy.

"I'll be right back," Ryan said before walking back out to the pool house.

"Um, he seemed different," Seth broke the silence that had descended upon them since Ryan left.

"He seems happy again. I'm glad. I know it's hard to be cooped up in one place for a long time. I was only praying to God that he want going to be like what he was like yesterday for the rest of his recovery time," Kirsten answered.

"I can guarantee you that this is only temporary. Marissa must have cheered him up. I'm sure he'll be back to his sullen bed ridden self before long." Sandy said as he carried over the forks and knives.

"You would never guess Ryan to be a grumpy sick person. I always thought he'd be incredibly independent. But instead it's like he's this completely different person. He's like Clark Kent and Superman. Bitchy Summer and sweet Summer. Newport and Chino. I could go on and on."

"I agree with you son," Sandy said as he sat down at the table. Kirsten and Seth joined him. "But don't give him too much grief. He took a pretty bad beating."

"I know dad."

At that moment Ryan came storming in to the kitchen. "Where are my painkillers?"

"And he's back…" Seth murmured trying to hide a smile at Ryan's outburst.

"What's that supposed to mean! My ribs are killing me and I go into the pool house to try to find some painkillers and all of a sudden they're not there! Who moved them! Don't move my stuff!"

"Ryan, did you check the floor?" Kirsten asked trying to calm Ryan down. She didn't like this version of him but she would just have to deal with it until he was feeling better.

"No. I didn't check the floor." Ryan said sarcastically.

"Seth why don't you go help Ryan look for them. We'll wait for you guys to come back," Sandy spoke up. Ryan stormed out of the kitchen back to the pool house.

"Thanks a lot dad," Seth said sarcastically. "Condemn me to be alone with that monster? Ugh, if I'm not back in 10 minutes come to make sure he hasn't killed me."

When Seth entered the pool house he saw Ryan tearing through his belongings. Ryan was usually so neat and orderly it was scary but this version of Ryan gave no regard for where things went and what was being thrown around.

"Ry, where haven't you looked yet?"

"I've checked everywhere!" Ryan threw the pillow he had been holding down on the bed with a primal grunt.

"Why don't you just use some Aspirin? Or some Advil? I'm sure mom has some in the medicine cabinet."

"It's not strong enough. These were meant for stronger pain. And right now my ribs are killing me."

Seth bent over trying to find the bottle of pain killers. The sooner they were found the sooner he'd be safely back with his parents. He spotted something under the bedside table and stuck is hand underneath it fishing around for something shaped like a cylinder. When his hands found something that could be a pill bottle he pulled it out and to his immense happiness, realized that it was Ryan's prescription pain relievers.

"There ya go, man. Now let's go eat. I'm famished." Seth handed Ryan the bottle of painkillers. Ryan took them and shook out three before popping them into his mouth.

"Aren't you only supposed to take one?"

"It's just two extra. And they make me tired so now I'll be able to go to sleep sooner."

Seth just nodded his head before leading the way out to the main house. He turned around and saw that Ryan was right behind him.

"We found them," Seth announced as he walked into the kitchen.

"I knew you would," Kirsten answered with a smile.

"Great, let's eat now." Sandy started digging into the food.

After about 10 minutes of discussion without Ryan saying a word Seth looked over. To his surprise he noticed that Ryan seemed to be having a very hard time keeping his eyes open. His head kept drooping over only to have him snap his head back a few seconds later. His eyes started to glaze over as he stared at a spot on the table. Seth wondered if it was possible to fall asleep with your eyes open. Because the way Ryan was acting Seth wouldn't have been surprised. He figured the painkillers must have been starting to really kick in.

"Ryan?"

Ryan head jerked up and his eyes snapped open. He began shoveling food into his mouth and blinking frequently as if trying to focus.

"Ryan, honey. Are you feeling okay? You kind of look out of it," Kirsten asked with worry in her voice. Her eyebrows were knitted together with worry and confusion.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Can I go back to the pool house? I'm not very hungry."

"Of course, sweetie." Kirsten answered.

Ryan slowly got up from the table and picked up his plate. He took a moment to gain his balance before making his way over to the counter to drop off his plate. Once he set his plate down he began walking towards the door only to crash into the corner of the counter.

"Fuck," he murmured.

All three Cohen's were looking at him with worry in the eyes. Well, only two. Seth was very amused by all this. He knew it was only the painkillers so he wasn't worried.

Ryan continued to struggle his way to the doors. They watched him make his way across the patio. He stumbled into two lawn chairs. The second one he fell right over it. Seth snorted at this and Sandy and Kirsten glared at him. He lowered his gaze. Hs parents continued to watch Ryan make his way over and Seth lifted his eyes to. He wasn't about to miss this. He was trying so hard to keep his laughter in check. Once Ryan got to the door he seemed to forget there was one. He walked right into it before stepping back and pushing the door open. Once he got into the pool house Seth burst out laughing.

"Seth. What's so funny about this?" Sandy asked.

"Did you not just see that?" Seth asked his eyes were brimmed with tears he was laughing so hard.

"Whats wrong with him? If I didn't know any better I would have sworn he had been drinking," Kirsten spoke up.

"Don't worry. I guess his painkillers just kicked in kind of early. He took a couple before dinner." Seth explained.

"So that explains his basically falling asleep at the table. Was I the only one who noticed his head drooping down almost every 2 minutes?" Sandy asked. He now had a wide grin on his face now that he knew his foster son was fine.

"His eyes were closing the entire meal! He could barely keep them open! The painkillers shouldn't have that much of an affect on him." Kirsten still sounded worried.

"Mom, relax. The painkillers are supposed to make him drowsy."

"Exactly. Drowsy. Not so tired that he falls asleep in a plate of food."

"He didn't fall asleep in a plate of food. Dad, back me up here."

"He's right, honey. Yeah, he looked pretty close to it but at least he didn't."

"Seth, did you see how many he took?"

"Um, three I think. But mom, it's like one or two extra. It wouldn't do anything."

"I know. But I don't want him to take more then the recommended dose. I'm going to keep them in our bathroom. I'll give them to him whenever he needs them but just in case I'm going to keep them."

"He's going to be pissed off." Seth said.

"I'd rather have him pissed off then overdosing on painkillers."

"Kirsten, you're over reacting. Like Seth said, it was one or two extra. No big deal."

"Fine. But I still don't like him taking extra. I'm going to go check on him then I'm going to go to bed."

"I'll go with you mom. I've never seen Ryan like this before. It's like he's drunk!" Seth said with a delighted grin on his face.

"I have some work to catch up on so I'll see you all in the morning," Sandy said as he picked up his plate and carried it to the kitchen before making his way to his office.

"Ryan?" Kirsten whispered making her way into the pool house closely followed by Seth.

"Ryyyyaaaannnnn. Hey man?" Seth asked right behind his mom.

On the bed fast asleep was Ryan. He looked as if he had tried getting ready for bed but passed out before he could finish. His shirt was halfway over his head and his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped. One of his arms was inside his shirt and the other was hanging loosely over the side of the bed. He was on his stomach with his feet hanging over the bottom of the bed.

Seth laughed at his appearance. "He seriously looks like he's drunk. We need the camera or something."

"Seth, don't."

"I'm just joking mom."

Seth walked over and began poking at Ryan's foot. All that came from the sleeping form was a low groan and something murmured that sounded very much like "get the fuck out". Seth laughed at this while Kirsten scowled.

"Well, lets let him sleep. Come on mom."

"He won't be able to sleep comfortably like that. He's half undressed. He must be uncomfortable."

"Mom, you're not saying your going to undress him are you? Because that would be weird and quite honestly a little creepy."

"Why don't you do it? He's your best friend."

"He's also a _guy." _Seth emphasized the word guy. "I'm not going to undress my male best friend just so he can sleep more comfortably. That's incredibly minty."

"Well, at least take off his shoes."

"Ugh. Do it yourself."

"Seth Ezekiel. It's just shoes. I'm going to go clean up the kitchen. When I come back I want his shoes off okay? Its just shoes. I'm not forcing you to do anything _minty_."

As Kirsten walked out of the pool house Seth tried prodding Ryan awake. He didn't want to undress Ryan. Even if it was just shoes he wasn't in the mood to undress a guy in the least. But he knew that if he didn't his mom would have his ass handed to him in a sesame seed hot dog bun so he sat down and started untying Ryan's shoes.

Ryan groaned from the bed. Seth pulled off one shoe quickly and then got the other one off as fast as he could to. Ryan moaned once again and this time Seth was able to distinguish a name from the other gibberish that Ryan was saying. Seth distinctly heard the name "Marissa" in between Ryan's murmurings. Seth grinned. Looked like Ryan was getting it on in his little dreamworld. He couldn't wait to bring this up in the morning. But then he thought about it and thought it would be extremely weird of him to mention to Ryan that he had stood and watched him as he was having dreams which included the moaning of his girlfriend's name. Maybe he'd keep it to himself.

Seth walked out of the pool house and into the kitchen.

"K, mom. Shoes are off. I'm sure he's comfortable enough to sleep now. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sweetie." Kirsten said looking up from the newspaper she had been reading when he walked in.

As Seth walked upstairs he couldn't help but feel happy for his brother. He knew that Ryan loved Marissa and she obviously loved him to. It made him happy to see Ryan so happy and for once in his life he looked forward to Marisa coming over. She was going to be desperately needed for the next little while. She seemed to be the only thing that cheered Ryan up. Marissa was going to need to become a regular fixture at the Cohen house if they were expected to survive bed ridden Ryan's wrath. But if it was going to be anything like it had been tonight Seth couldn't wait. Because to him, tonight had been pretty funny.

Wow that was long for me. There will be a lot more Ryan and Marissa in the next few chapters, I promise. If any of you have any suggestions let me know and I'll try to work it into the story. I also want to get some more Ryan and Seth conversations into these stories because I absolutely adore those two.

Read and review! Thanks


	6. a night in

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC

More Marissa and Ryan this chapter! This took me a long time to write. I couldn't for the life of me come up with any good ideas. But I thought I should post something so I wrote sort of a fluffy chapter that doesn't really have a plot. Sometime soon the Volchok thing will be worked out.

Ryan woke up with a groan. When he took in his surroundings he was surprised to find that he was on top of his covers instead of underneath them. He was also half way out of his t-shirt.

What the fuck, he thought.

He slowly crawled out of bed trying to determine what was making him so tired. He felt as if he had been drunk the night before, unable to remember the previous night. He didn't have a headache or any other hangover symptoms so he was pretty sure he wasn't actually suffering from a hangover. He looked over at his clock and inwardly groaned when he saw the time. 1:46 in the afternoon. He never slept in that late. Usually he was the first or second one up in the Cohen household.

As he walked into the main house Seth was sitting at the counter eating a sandwich.

"Well, I'm happy to see you're still alive. Those painkillers really knocked you out."

Ah. So it was painkillers that were making him so tired. "Why didn't you wake me up? I was supposed to call Marissa when I woke up. Which was supposed to be in the morning. Not halfway through the afternoon."

"I tried, man. I really tried. But you were like dead to the world or something. It was like you were in a coma. I nudged you so hard you almost fell out of bed, mom did not like that at all, and you didn't even groan or move or tell me to leave you alone. Nothing. We were getting worried to be honest. Well I wasn't. But mom was."

"Aren't the painkillers only supposed to make me drowsy? Not knock me out for half the day?"

"Well, you took three instead of one so I guess that probably changed the effects a little bit. Oh, but let me tell you, last night was hilarious. I thought I was going to fall off my chair I was laughing so hard."

Ryan raised his eyebrows waiting for Seth to continue. "What happened?"

"It was seriously like you were drunk. You were walking into things and your head was falling over and your eyes were closing. It was like the whole drunk teenager thing. You nailed that, man. If I didn't know better I would have sworn you were actually drunk. And to tell you the truth, this morning probably would have just heightened my suspicions. Seeing as you decide to wake up when most people are already half way through their day and you walk in looking like screech. You look so hung-over dude. If I were you I'd go clean up a bit before my parents get home."

"But they know it was just painkillers."

"They _think _man. They don't know. And I guarantee if they see you like that you're going to have hard time convincing them."

"Whatever." Ryan reached up into the cupboard to get his favorite cereal. He brought the box over to the table and started eating from the box.

"Hey, why do you always eat out of the box? Like it would take you an extra 5 seconds to get a bowl," Seth said walking over and flopping down next to Ryan on the couch.

"So?"

"I was just wondering."

"What's it matter? If I decide to eat without a bowl why would you care?" Ryan asked with an edge to his voice.

"It doesn't bother me. For a few minutes there I thought you were going back to normal but I was just proven wrong. You're still all grumpy." Ryan glared at him. "Not that I care in the least. Oh please God, don't let him hurt me." He said putting his hands into a praying formation and looking up to the ceiling.

"Shut up Seth."

"I was just joking, man. You're not that bad. You're bad but not_ that_ bad. And don't get all crazy on me but you need a shower. Its torture sitting next to your right now."

"Then don't sit next to me. And it's not that bad."

"Well you wore those clothes yesterday and when I walked in to wake you up earlier I saw a pretty decent amount of drool on your bed. You might want to wash those clothes, like immediately. You never know if you rolled into it or not."

Ryan got up and started walking back to the pool house. "Okay. Uh, I guess I'll see you later, dude." Seth called.

Ryan just grunted in reply.

As Ryan walked into the pool house he realized that his ribs weren't bothering him anymore. He wasn't sure if it was just the remaining effects of the painkillers or if he was healing faster then the doctor had thought. That had happened once before when he was 14. He sprained his wrist and the doctor didn't think he'd be able to use it for a while but in a matter of days he was back to throwing punches.

As he walked into the bathroom to take a shower he looked at his reflection in the mirror. His face was almost devoid of all the bruises he had had. As he took off his shirt he was happy to see that you could barely see the bruises or the swelling on his torso. He got into the shower happy to discover that he was almost better. Of course he was still sore, but it was no where near as bad as it had been the day before.

When he walked out of the bathroom he saw Seth sitting on one of the chairs reading the entertainment section of the newspaper.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked getting a shirt, pants, and boxers from his shelf.

"Hello to you to. Marissa called while you were in the shower. She wanted to know why you didn't call her. I told her you were knocked out on painkillers and she got all worried. So don't be surprised if she shows up soon."

"Oh. Okay."

Seth jumped up when he heard the phone ringing from inside the house. He ran out the door and into the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey honey, it's me"

"Hey mom. What's up?"

"Just calling to check up on you guys. How's Ryan doing?"

"Well, he woke up at around 1:45 this afternoon so he's very well rested. You wouldn't be able to tell from the way he's acting though."

Kirsten chuckled. "He still in a bad mood?"

"Yeah, but not as bad as last night. No yelling this morning. Or afternoon I should say. Just excessive amounts of eye rolling and sighing. There was actually no sighing but plenty of eye rolling."

"Uh-huh. I just want to let you know that I'm not going to be able to get home until late tonight. So you're going to be in charge in making sure Ryan feels okay, alright? If he needs his meds you know where they are. And only give him one. I don't want him sleeping his whole recovery time."

"I see your concern but listen to this. If he's sleeping all the time he'll have no time to bitch at…."

"Seth. Don't say bitch."

"Sorry. He'll have no time to…. Um…. Act uh…. Yeah bitch is the only word I can think of."

Kirsten sighed. "Just keep an eye on him Seth."

"Honestly mom though, I don't think he's in any pain. He wasn't even limping this morning. And he was sitting and getting up without wincing or holding his ribs or anything. Kid Chino can not only punch people, he can also heal things instantly. Well, not instantly. In a short amount of time."

"I'll see you tonight honey." Kirsten hung up the phone before Seth could say anymore.

Barely five seconds after he got off the phone with his mom the phone rang again.

"Hello?" Seth answered.

"Seth, that was fast." It was Sandy.

"Hey dad. Well, I just got off the phone with mom so the phone was pretty close."

"How's Ryan doing?"

"He's locked up in the fortress of solitude waiting to be saved by Cosmogirl."

"……."

"He's in the pool house waiting for Marissa."

"Oh. I see. Is he in any pain?"

"I don't think so. He's not limping anymore and his ribs don't seem to be bothering him. He's just moody now. He walked in this morning, sorry afternoon, and he was acting all old jolly Ryan. Well you know not jolly but his usual self, and then instantly he's back to being the new grumpy Ryan. Dad, I'm scared. I'm all alone in this house. It's like you've caged me in with some wild animal that hasn't eaten for days."

"I'm sure it's not that bad Seth."

"Well, its not. But he is back to being grumpy. And anyways, why are you calling? Just to check up?"

"Yeah. And tonight I'm going to be working on what to do about this Volchok kid so I'll be a little late."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not sure. He's still a minor so we can't exactly sue him. But I don't want to just let him get away with it. That's why I need to stay late tonight. It's going to take a while for me to think of an appropriate line of action."

"You could always just condemn Volchok to a day with the beast. And by beast I mean Ryan."

"Son, you're exaggerating. I'm sure Ryan is no where near as bad as you're making him out to be."

"Maybe not but I assure you he's bad."

"Well, I gotta go work on something. Call me if you need anything."

"K. Bye dad." Seth hung up the phone and walked back out to the pool house.

"Hey Rya…oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Seth said. As he walked in he found Ryan lying on top of Marissa with his hand snaking its way up her shirt. As soon as Seth spoke Ryan immediately pulled his hand away and got off Marissa. Marissa adjusted her shirt and tried to fix her hair. Her face was a bright red.

"Hey Seth…..um... what's up?" Marissa asked not looking Seth in the eye. He didn't know why she was so embarrassed. At least it wasn't his mom or dad.

"Nothing. When did you get here?"

"Like 5 minutes ago. I just came around the back."

"Oh."

"…."

"Yeah, so I was just coming out here to ask Ryan if he wanted to go get something to eat at the pier. You feeling up to it, bro?"

"Uh, yeah I guess. Do you wanna come Marissa?" Ryan asked.

"Sure. I'm so hungry; I didn't eat breakfast this morning."

"Um, so I'll just wait for you guys inside. Bye." Seth closed the door behind him and walked towards the kitchen.

Once Seth left Ryan climbed on top of Marissa and started to kiss her again.

"Mmmmmm. Ryan. We have to go. We can't keep Seth waiting."

"He can wait for a few minutes can't he?" Ryan started kissing her neck before moving back to her lips.

"Believe me, I'd rather stay here alone with you, but we said we'd go with him. And I really am starving."

"Fine. Let's go."

When Ryan and Marissa walked into the kitchen Seth looked up.

"Ready to go?"

"Um, yeah. Do you guys want to stay in and maybe order some Thai or something? I'm kind of tired," Ryan said.

"You're tired? Jeez, you would think that 16 hours of sleep would be enough for you."

"Seth, it wasn't 16 hours. And besides I was really tired last night."

Seth snorted. "Yeah. I know, it was kind of obvious."

"Whatever," Ryan said as he rolled his eyes.

"So, my parents both called earlier. They're both working late tonight. My dad's trying to come up with what to do about Volchok." Marissa looked down when his name was mentioned. She still felt terrible that Volchok had beaten Ryan up so bad that he had to taken to the emergency room.

"What's going to happen to him?" Marissa asked quietly.

"I don't know. I suggested that dad just force him to spend a day with Ryan. Because you may not know this Marissa, but our polite, quiet Ryan turns into the devil child when he's sick. Or hurt. I'm just assuming you're the same way when you're sick. I hope I don't ever find out. I don't ever want to have to go through this again."

"The devil child?" Marissa smiled as she looked at Ryan. "Are you really that bad?"

"No," Ryan answered glaring at Seth. "Seth just exaggerates."

"Pfftt. Sure I do buddy," Seth said sarcastically.

"My ribs aren't hurting me Seth. I can still kick your ass."

"But you wouldn't do that. We're brothers."

"That never stopped me and Trey from nearly killing each other."

"But we're also amigos. And amigos don't hurt their amigos. It's just against the rule of amigos. And besides, you have an advantage over me. So it wouldn't be fair."

"I'm the one with the injuries Seth."

"Yes, but your still stronger then me."

"Seth. Order the food now."

"Ay ay captain," Seth saluted Ryan who once again just rolled his eyes.

As Seth went to order the food Marisa went and sat next to Ryan who had moved over to the couch.

"I'm really sorry about what Volchok did to you. I feel like it's my fault. If I had just wai…."

"Hey. It's okay. It wasn't your fault at all." Ryan put his arm around her shoulder.

"I know it's just if I had waited to break things off with him, then you wouldn't be hurt. I should have tried to stop him more."

"Marissa, he's violent. You wouldn't have been able to stop him. And I'm glad you didn't get in the middle of it. And besides, in the end I got you. That makes all these injuries worth it. Because in the end I got exactly what I had been waiting for since we broke up." he smiled at her.

She smiled back at him, happy to see that he wasn't mad at her and didn't blame her at all for what had happened. "I've been waiting for this for a long time to. If I had known you felt the same way I would have made a move a lot sooner. It sucks that it took us so long to finally figure it out."

"Yeah. But we're together now."

She snuggled up closer to him and he tightened his hold on her. They remained seated like that until Seth came back in finished ordering the food.

"The Thai is on its way." Seth announced as he walked in.

Seth walked over to the table and picked up the TV remote before walking over to the chair beside the couch and sitting down and flicking on the TV.

The three of them sat and watched TV until the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Ryan said as he stood up and walked to the front door.

"So….you and Ryan together again. Just like old times," Seth said after Ryan had left.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just I don't want to drift apart again. Every time we get together it always seems that something comes and pulls us apart. First there was Oliver, then Theresa, and then Trey, Johnny, Volchok. The list goes on and on."

"I don't think you should worry about that. You guys have made it past all those. Why would anything else be any different? And besides, I think you should just live in the now. Don't worry about the future yet. Your only 17."

"Thanks Seth," Marissa said.

"No problem."

"Jesus Seth. How much food did you order?" Ryan walked in with his arms full of take out boxes.

"Excuse me for wanting to order enough food to ensure none of us go hungry."

"Seth, that amount of food would ensure a small country doesn't go hungry," Marissa chuckled.

"I was hungry. What can I say." Seth shrugged before digging into the food.

A half hour later the three teenagers were sprawled across the couch holding their stomachs and in Seth's case groaning.

"I can't believe we ate all of that food," Seth groaned while closing his eyes and holding his stomach.

"Ugh, I know," Ryan said.

"What time is it?" Marissa asked from beside Ryan.

"10:21. When do you have to get home?" Ryan asked.

"10:30. I better get going. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She bent down to give Ryan a kiss before making her way to the front door.

"So Ryan…. that turned out to be an enjoyable day, did it not?"

"Yeah, but I think I'm going to be sick. Waaayy too much food."

"I feel your pain, dude. You up to a few games of Grand Theft Auto before we hit the sack?"

"Seth, its only 10:30."

"Yeah but excessive amounts of food make me tired."

"Oh. Well, yeah sure. Grand Theft Auto sounds good. I'll just kick your ass as usual."

"Ryan, buddy. Don't get too full of yourself. You have a major advantage over me. You have had first hand experience at this."

"Not really. I've never shot a cop or ran over any pedestrians. And I've only stolen one car. And I got caught."

"Yeah but that's a hell of a lot more then I've done," Seth said as he handed Ryan a controller.

10 minutes later they were completely into the game. Seth was moving with his car while Ryan's eyes were glued to the screen and he was leaning forward in focus.

"Take that you no good pieces of shit. Don't even bother running you fools, the Sethantor is hot on your heels. You shall feel his full wrath. Ohhhh, did you see that man?" Seth turned to face Ryan to find the blonde boy staring at him with a smile tugging at his lips.

"The Sethantor?"

"My game name. Don't you have a game name? Jeez, I thought everyone named their characters. This will not do, you need a name. How about……the..."

"Not The Ryanator," Ryan broke in.

"Dude, I wasn't going to say The Ryanator. That's a complete rip off of The Sethanator. We need something original for you. Not just some cheap imitation of my name."

"Then what's your idea?"

"Um….ooohhh I got it. Wait for it….. The Ryamobile! Pretty good, is it not?" Seth nodded his head obviously pleased the name he had thought of.

"The Ryamobile? That's even worse then the Sethanator."

"What? Its amazing dude!"

"My car or character or whatever doesn't need a name. It's a video game."

"Yes but you still need a good name for your virtual self."

"Why not Ryan then?"

"Because that's your reality self. This is your virtual self."

Ryan raised his eyebrows.

"Listen man. To distinguish your character from my character you need names. And not those boring default names that are just player one player two and so on because those are unoriginal and everybody uses those. Barely anybody actually makes up an original name for their character and since in this game it's a car you can't exactly name it a person name, you need something that could be a good name for a car. Even if you don't actually name your car, in this game you do because it's your character and as I've already said you always need to name your character. Unless you want to be boring and stick with your default player two name, then you will use the Ryamobile because that is freaking awesome. The Ryamobile. Just say it man. Ryamobile. It has a nice ring to it. It flows from your mouth. It just might give the Sethanator a run for its money."

"The Ryamobile."

"See? Isn't it fun to say? Ryamobile. Ryamobile. Ryamobile. That is an awesome name." Seth nodded his head, his eyes wide waiting for Ryan to say something.

"I'm going to bed."

"Fine. The Sethantor and The Ryamobile will finish their little duel, you could say, in the morning."

"Yeah. Okay." Ryan walked out the kitchen doors and into the pool house. He was really tired. Even though he had slept in so late he felt as if he could fall asleep at any time now. He took his boots of and placed them near the door before changing into a new shirt and taking off his pants. He climbed under the sheets and immediately fell asleep.

Back in the house Seth was also starting to feel tired. It had been a long day for him. He had been up early with absolutely nothing to do. Ryan had been asleep still so he went skateboarding on the pier. That always tired him out. And then he had come home and gotten really into his video game which always got him feeling drowsy.

He walked up to his room and closed the door behind him. He flopped down on his bed and didn't bother changing before climbing under his covers. After about 10 minutes of tossing and turning he found a comfortable position and fell asleep.

When Kirsten got home she decided to check up on her boys. She knew she would have gotten home before Sandy. It was going to be hard for him to decide what he would be able to do with Volchok. She started walking out towards the pool house to check up on Ryan. She had been worrying about him all day but Seth had assured her earlier that it seemed as if he was feeling much better. She walked in and found him already fast asleep. The covers were pulled up over his head so all you could see were little tufts of blonde hair poking out of the sheets. One of his legs was sticking over the edge of the bed and he had an arm slung up over the side. She smiled. When he had first gotten here he would be awake as soon as someone entered the pool house. Now he was like a zombie. He barely stirred when she kissed the top of his head. She has glad that he felt safe here.

Next she walked up to Seth's room. His covers were pulled up over his head so you couldn't see him at all. Instead of being stretched out like Ryan had, it looked as if he was curled up into a ball underneath the covers. She whispered goodnight to him before walking out and closing the door behind her.

She went into her own bedroom and got ready for bed. She climbed under her duvet and waited for sleep to take over.

At around 2:00 she heard rustling in the room and opened her eyes to find Sandy struggling his way in the dark towards the bed.

"Hey honey," she whispered. "How's the case going so far?"

"Still nothing. I don't want to be too harsh on this kid. I have no clue where his parents are. He doesn't go to school, he lives on his own. His life seems horrible and I don't want to make it any worse by going down to severely. But I won't let him get away with what he did to Ryan."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll figure something out. Come to bed now though. It's late, you must be tired."

Sandy crawled in next to her and she snuggled up to him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"We'll work out everything in the morning, okay? I'll help you if you want. Tomorrow's the weekend so if you want to just take a few days off to relax maybe we could do something just the two of us. We haven't done that in a while." Kirsten suggested.

"That sounds good. I'll work on the case on Monday. I could really use a few days to just do nothing."

"We'll tell the boys in the morning. I'm sure they wont mind being alone for a couple days."

"Goodnight, sweetie. I love you."

"I love you to Sandy," Kirsten whispered before kissing him goodnight and closing her eyes. They hadn't done anything just the two of them in a long time and she was excited. The boys wouldn't care. They'd probably be happy to have the house to themselves for the weekend. She just hoped they stayed responsible and didn't try anything stupid.

Wow! That was even longer then the last one! I want to get Sandy and Kirsten out of here for a while because I didn't really want this to become a Cohen family story and the way it was going it seemed to be doing just that. So now with them out of the picture it can go back to being a story about the kids. Hope you liked this! And since Sandy and Kirsten are going away the Volchok storyline won't be resolved next chapter. Sorry. But Volchok will be there. So thanks for reading. Don't forget to review!


	7. the party

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC

Sorry it's taken me so long to update. It was Easter weekend and I now have lots of homework. I'm definitely going to finish this story; the updates will just take a little longer to get posted. And of any of you are also reading Confused and Alone, don't worry I haven't forgotten about it. Same story: lots of homework and Easter! Sorry for the lack of updates I'll try to post longer chapters to make up for it. Thanks!

"Seth honey? Wake up," Kirsten said as she walked into Seth's room.

"Mmmm….go 'way," a voice grumbled from underneath the mound of blankets.

"Sweetie, your dad and I are going away for the weekend."

Seth's head immediately popped up from under the sheets.

"Really?" It was obvious that he was trying to contain a smile.

"Yes, but only if I can trust you to not do anything irresponsible while we're gone," she crossed her arms and looked at him.

"Mom, out of all the times I've been alone before what have I done to make you think that I would not be able to stay responsible and keep the trust that my amazing parents have bestowed upon me? I'm hurt that you would even think I would do anything bad. Deeply, deeply hurt mom." Seth put a hand over his heart for dramatic effect.

Kirsten smiled at her son's reaction. He had always been overly dramatic. "Honey, I do trust you. That's why we're going away on this trip. I just wanted to make sure that you knew the consequences you'll be facing if we come back to find our house a mess," She put on a serious tone. She wanted Seth to know that she was being completely serious. "You and Ryan will be grounded for at least a month, no car, no video games, no TV, no girls, you come over as soon as schools done, and no Worm Shop if we come home to the after effects of anything bad."

Seth scrunched up his face. "The Worm Shop? What the hell is that?"

"That place you and Ryan go to a lot. You know the place…… it has live bands. Your friend Alex used to work there."

Seth smiled. "You mean the Bait Shop."

"Oh yeah. The Bait Shop. Well, I have to go. We're going to be late for our flight. I'll see you when we get home honey." She bent over and kissed Seth on the forehead.

As soon as Kirsten left the room Seth smiled a devilish smile. As long as everything was cleaned up they could do whatever they wanted.

"Ryan? Kid wake up."

Sandy walked into the pool house to tell Ryan that he and Kirsten were on their way. All Sandy could see of Ryan was a leg sticking out from underneath the blankets and a mop of blonde hair sticking out from the top of the bed.

At Sandy's voice the leg was pulled in and the blankets were pulled up over what was visible of the dark blonde hair.

"Kid, you don't have to get up, I just want to know that you're hearing what I'm saying."

Ryan pulled the blankets down a little bit and gave Sandy a bleary eyed glare.

Sandy laughed. Ryan was turning more into Seth as each day went by. It was already 10:30 and usually Ryan was the first one up.

"What?" Ryan snapped.

"Wow, you're really not a morning person anymore are you?"

Ryan just flopped down onto his bed with an exaggerated sigh.

"Well, as I was saying before, Kirsten and I are on our way now."

Ryan grunted in reply.

"I want to come back to a clean house. If we don't then you and Seth will both be grounded. No cars, no girls, no late nights, no Play Station, no Bait Shop, and the two of you will have to come home right after school. Kirsten and I have talked about it and we think that these consequences are fair. We have a lot of trust in you guys and I want to keep it that way."

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, we're already late as it is so we should get going. I'll see you when we get back, kid." Sandy gave Ryan a kiss on top of his head before walking out of the pool house and down the driveway to the waiting taxi.

"Ryannnnnnn……dude, get up. We have the house to ourselves. And do you know what teenage boys do when they have the house to themselves?" Seth waited for Ryan to answer who was still buried underneath his blankets.

Seth heard a muffled "leave me alone".

"Ry, come on get up. I've been waiting for you for an hour now. The parents are gone and we have to start planning this little party we'll be having."

Ryan pulled the blankets off and started to sit up in bed. "Your parents made it pretty obvious that they didn't want us to have a party, Seth." Ryan reached behind his bed and pulled a pair of jeans and a black T-Shirt over. He got out of bed and started walking towards the bathroom. Seth continued talking. When Ryan closed the bathroom door, Seth walked over and began talking through the door to make sure Ryan could hear what he was saying.

"But dude, it's perfect. No parents, we have their trust, and we have an entire day to clean up. We can have it tonight and then tomorrow we can clean it up. They don't get back until late so seriously, there is absolutely no reason for us not to do this. They'd probably be worried if we didn't do something crazy. We are after all home alone, 17 years old, and…….uh….we're home alone, man. It's perfect. We can tell Marissa and Summer about it and then they can spread the word while we get everything ready. It's foolproof. We have to do it."

Ryan walked out of the bathroom and walked around Seth. "As long as we get everything cleaned up I guess I don't really see a problem with it. But we have to get everything back to normal. I really don't want to disappoint your parents but we haven't really ever done anything like this so it'd be fun I guess."

"Yes! Okay, perfect, I'll go call Summer and Marissa. You go out and get the alcohol."

"I'm not 21."

"But you have a fake I.D right?"

"If you're talking about the ones you got us for Vegas I'm not using that. It sucked."

"Well, don't you have one from your hoodlum days in Chino?"

Ryan glared at him. "Why would you think that I have a fake I.D just because I'm from Chino?"

"Well, do you?"

"Well, yeah but…"

"Then get going. We need to get this party started."

Seth walked out of the pool house and into the kitchen to call the girls while Ryan searched his closet for his fake I.D. He didn't think he'd use it in Newport so he had tucked it away when he arrived. After 10 minutes of searching he finally found it. According to the card he was 22 years old and his name was Ryan Wood. He had scored it off of one of Trey's friends when he was 15 years old.

He walked back into the main house to tell Seth he was on his way.

"Hey, Seth. Do you have an extra set of keys?"

"Yeah, on the counter right over there." He vaguely pointed over to the counter in the kitchen.

Ryan walked over to it and picked up the keys. "I need money. Kegs are expensive, and we're going to need more than one."

"Take my debit card." Seth reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped it open and pulled out a card. "PIN number is 1324."

Ryan took the card from Seth and walked out towards the Range Rover. He wasn't worried about his I.D. He used it all the time in Chino and it always worked.

"Hello?"

"Summer, its Seth."

"Hey Cohen. What's up?"

"Me and Ryan are having a party tonight. Are you with Marissa?"

"Yeah, do you want to talk to her?"

"No its okay. I was just wondering if you could maybe spread the word, seeing as me and Ryan don't exactly have a huge contact list we won't be able to."

"Yeah, sure. How many people are you thinking?"

"A lot."

"Yeah, okay. What time should I come over?"

"Um, is 7:30 good?"

"Perfect, I'll see you then Cohen."

Seth hung up the phone. With Ryan gone to get the booze and Summer working on the people, his party was officially under way. He was going to need to stay sober tonight though. Since it was his house he wanted to be clear headed so he could keep it under control. Well, at least a little under control.

"Corman! Awesome party dude!" Some drunk water polo player yelled at Seth.

"It's Cohen. But thanks."

People had started to arrive at around 8 and it was now 10:45. His house was full of drunk teenagers and he hadn't seen Ryan since he had gotten back with the keg. He was starting to get worried but Ryan lived here so he couldn't really get lost.

"Seth! Bro yo! Wadduupppppp?" someone clapped their hands down on Seth's shoulders causing him to jump. He whirled around and saw Ryan. A clearly drunk Ryan. He had a lazy smile on his lips and his eyes were glassy.

Great, Seth thought, I am now officially the only sober person here.

Ryan flung an arm across Seth's shoulders. "This party is awesome! I love you, bro. I really love you. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Okaaayy, buddy. How much did you have to drink tonight?" Seth had never seen Ryan drunk. He was nervous because now he'd have to handle this party all by himself but he was also excited to see what his foster brother was like when he drank too much.

"Oh, um…..a bit. But dude, guess what?" Ryan had a big smile plastered across his face. "I jussaw Marissa. She's so pretty. Don't you think she's pretty?" Ryan had a very noticeable slur.

"Yeah, Ry," Seth didn't know what he was going to do. He couldn't handle all this by himself. He needed someone else.

"Cohen!" Seth looked over and saw Summer running over to him. She was obviously flustered. "Thank God you found Ryan! I saw him drinking like non stop and so I decided to stay sober since no one else here is, to you know, keep an eye on him, and I looked away for like a second and he disappeared! He was hanging out with the water polo team."

"The water polo team?" Seth knew this was weird. The water polo team and Ryan did not get along. At all.

"Yeah, I know. He was laughing with them and they were playing poker and I didn't really know what to do. I've never had to deal with a drunk Ryan before. And also shouldn't he have stayed sober? Seeing as this is his house to?"

"Yeah, I don't know what happened. It's okay though. As long as we both don't drink anything we can deal with this. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, I'm going to go find Marissa. One again she's drunk out of her mind." Summer rolled her eyes before walking away to find her best friend.

As she walked past the front door she saw more people coming in. She stopped to see who it was and was shocked when she saw who was walking into the Cohen house. Volchok and four of his friends walked into the house acting as if they owned the place. Immediately Volchok's friends headed over to the keg. Volchok looked around and when he spotted Summer he walked over.

"Summer right? I was wondering if you've seen Marissa."

"And why would I tell you?"

"Well, then have you seen Ryan?"

Summer didn't know what had gone on between Ryan and Volchok. She wasn't really close with him so she didn't really notice when she didn't see him for a while.

"Why?" She asked. She glared at him.

"He came over last week to sort some things out about Marissa and he forgot his jacket. Thought he might want it back," he held up a black jacket that Summer recognized as Ryan's. After eyeing him for a few more seconds she told him what he wanted to hear.

"Last time I saw him he was out back. He's drunk out of his mind though so you probably won't be able to have a decent conversation with him."

Volchok's face lit up at the mention of Ryan being drunk. "I'll just drop this off and be on my way."

Summer continued to watch him as he walked away towards the backyard.

"Atwood."

Ryan slowly turned around holding the pool chairs for support. When he saw who it was his smile faltered just a little bit. "Volchok. Wha' you doin' 'ere?" He slurred.

"Just came to drop off your jacket. And also I wanted I wanted to give you this." Volchok shoved Ryan. Ryan stumbled backwards farther then he should have because of his inebriated state of mind.

"What the fuck? Get away from me." Ryan pushed Volchok back. "What the hell did I do?"

"Nothing. I just don't like you. At all." he gave Ryan another push. Harder this time.

At the second push the people around them stopped talking and watched the boys pushing each other. Ryan instantly seemed to sober up at Volchok's second push and straightened out and seemed to gain some more balance. He forcefully pushed Volchok backwards towards the house. That only spurred Volchok on and with one final punch to Ryan's cheekbone, Ryan was flung backwards into the pool. The people around him gasped and Volchok walked back towards the front entrance.

"Ryan, man! What the hell!" Seth came running out and kneeled at the edge of the pool.

"Hey Seth. What's up?"

"Um, you're in the pool. Why the hell are you in the pool?"

"Oh um, Volchok came over. He left though."

"Volchok? He was here?"

"Yeah, but not for long. I think." Ryan swam over to the pools edge and pulled himself out of the water.

"Well, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Good, because we are going to have one hell of a hard time explaining this to the parents."

"What are you talking about? People have already started to leave and for a party it wasn't that wild. There wasn't any cocaine or anything. Just a lot of booze. Speaking of booze I think I got too much. What are we going to do bout the rest of it?" Ryan was obviously still a little buzzed.

"Don't worry about it. What I meant though was you have a shiner. And if I remember clearly those take a little longer then a day to go away."

"Oh. Yeah, um….." Ryan thought for a second.

"My parents are going to kill us. Seriously, we're going to be under house arrest or something for this. Wait, maybe if you just played up your injury, you know, made it seem like a bigger thing, then we could get some sympathy and maybe they wouldn't come down so hard on us. It could work. We should do it."

"I suck at lying. And I can't really act."

"Really? But you were in musicals and everything. Just think back to your Snoopy days and I'm sure you won't have a problem."

"I didn't act in those. Well, not really. It was just a bunch of singing."

"I'd like to see you sing. That would be funny. You should do it some time. But back to the issue here. If you don't try to make it seem like your hurt more then you actually are we have absolutely nothing."

"I can try I guess but I'm really not good. They won't believe it. And then they'd just get even madder when they find out we tried lying to them after we had a party."

"Come on, dude it's all we have. You have to try. I'll write it down for you and you can memorize what you have to say. That way you won't get stuck."

"Seth, when I played Snoopy my only line was to bark and I screwed that up."

Seth laughed. "How the hell did you screw up a bark?"

"I didn't do it at the right time and the drama teacher said it didn't sound like a dog."

"Okay. But this time you're not going to be playing a dog. You're going to be playing a person."

"……"

Seth put his head in his hands. "Ryan, are we screwed?"

"Well not if your parents believe me. I mean, I'm not horrible, I'm just not very good."

"Ryan, man. We're so screwed."

That took me forever! Sorry for the long wait. I feel really bad but it's up now! I'm just having a really hard time with school right now but once it all dies down a bit you can expect faster updates. Don't forget to review! Thanks for reading.


	8. punishments

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC

"Ry, I think we are done. This house is spotless!" Seth and Ryan had been cleaning non-stop for 4 hours trying to get the house back to its normal stage.

"You got the guest rooms right?" Ryan asked looking up from his spot on the floor where he was picking up some final plastic cups and cleaning up a beer stain.

"Yeah. You got the kitchen?"

"Yeah, I think we're good." Seth stepped back and put his arms on his hips eyeing the living room. "They won't suspect a thing. I have to say man, we threw one hell of a party. Not that you would remember, you drunk," Seth said jokingly.

"I wasn't that drunk. Just a little buzzed is all."

"Okay, whatever you say. Hey Ryan?"

Ryan turned around. "What?"

Seth flicked him on the forehead. "Ow, what the hell!" Ryan said stepping back from Seth and holding his forehead.

"If you weren't drunk then you wouldn't have a hangover, and if you didn't have a hangover you wouldn't have a headache, and since obviously that miniscule flick hurt your head you most definitely have a headache which you would only have if you had a hangover which only occurs in the after event of drinking too much. Which you did."

Ryan just stared at Seth. "What?"

Seth sighed. "What I'm saying is that the flick hurt you because you have a hangover. You don't just get a hangover for no reason."

"Seth. You flicked me hard. That would hurt anyone. Hangover or no hangover. How would you like it if I flicked you? I'd be happy to demonstrate what you did to me. Just come over here."

"I'm okay without it. But thanks for the offer."

"No seriously. Just come over here and let me show you what you did." Ryan started walking towards Seth with his hand outstretched ready to flick.

"Ryan! Stop it! I have a very sensitive skull! I don't think you'd want to be the one responsible for giving me permanent brain damage because I doubt my parents would like that."

"I doubt it would make a difference." Ryan said advancing towards Seth.

Seth turned around and ran out towards the front foyer. Ryan quickly ran after him and before Seth was even at the front door Ryan had tackled him to the floor.

"Owwwww!" Seth yelled covering his face and turning away from Ryan's oncoming hand. "Leave me alone you devil child! Leave me alooonneee!"

"Boys? What are you doing?"

At the sound of Kirsten's voice Seth breathed a sigh of relief. Ryan wouldn't hurt him in front of his parents. As Ryan got up off the floor and let Seth go he made sure to give him a hard flick to the top of his head.

"Ow. Jeez, man." Seth walked over to his parents and hid behind Sandy peeking around his fathers shoulder and sticking his tongue out at Ryan.

"Seth. Ryan. What are you two doing?" Sandy asked stepping away from Seth and looking at the two boys.

"Ryan was chasing me around the house! He flicked me! Did you not see what just happened right before your own eyes? He flicked me!" Seth ranted.

"I only flicked you because you flicked me first."

"Yeah, but only to prove that you're hungov……" Seth stopped and abruptly looked over at his parents who were now frowning.

"What were you saying, Seth?" Kirsten asked.

"Uh, I wanted to prove the point that Ryan was…….um……"

"I'm pretty sure he was, uh, speaking in metaphors." Ryan cut in.

"Yes, exactly. Because, you see, we had such a good time this weekend just hanging around at home, all alone, and I was just saying that the two of us are hangover from all the fun we've had these past 48 hours. You know, it's like sort of the same as a hangover, except without the headache and all tha…."

"Ryan, what happened to your face!" Kirsten broke in.

Ryan touched his cheek where his shiner was. "Oh. That. Um, well actually, funny story. Uh, yesterday I woke up in the middle of the night and I, um, fell out of bed."

"And landed on your cheek." Sandy said, obviously not believing their cover story.

"Well, I landed on a weird angle. I'm not really sure how it happened. I guess I was still, uh, a little bit asleep I guess." Ryan said, not meeting Sandy or Kirsten's gaze.

"I was there," Seth broke in, sensing Ryan was fresh out of ideas. "Saw the whole thing. It was very funny actually. And man, he really landed on a strange angle. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. He sort of fell out of bed face first and landed right on his cheek. And yes, I know you're probably not believing that he landed on his cheekbone but would I lie to you? No. Absolutely not."

Kirsten continued to glare at the two boys while Sandy took the bags into their bedroom.

"And you're not lying to us, are you?" Kirsten asked. "Because if you are, now is the time to come clean about it."

"Mom, I swear to you we're being hon…."

"OH MY GOD!" Seth was broken off by Sandy's yell. "SETH, RYAN! GET IN HERE NOW!"

Ryan and Seth nervously glanced at each other. Kirsten ran ahead of them to see what the matter was.

"You didn't get my parents bedroom?" Seth asked.

"No, that was your job! I got the kitchen, the bathrooms, the backyard, the dining room, and the living room. Your only job was to get all the bedrooms, and you forgot to do that!"

"Shit."

"We are so fucking screwed. Thanks a lot Seth."

"Ryan, you should have checked."

"Why? It was your job, why should I have to check it?"

"Ugh, whatever. Let's just go and get this over with."

The two boys walked into their parents' bedroom to find the room turned upside down. The sheets and duvet had been torn off of the mattress and thrown on the floor amongst the many piles of clothes. The bed was sideways and Kirsten's make up had been scattered across the room.

Seth and Ryan quickly glanced at each other. Neither of them had thought one room could be messed up as much as this one had. And out of all the rooms in the house it just had to be Sandy and Kirsten's.

"Do either of you want to explain this?" Sandy asked. He looked livid. His arms were on his hips and he was pacing the floor, dodging the clothes, make up, and sheets that littered the room.

"Uhh……" Seth started.

"We're really sorry. We were going to have a few friends over and it got a little out of hand. We meant to clean everything up. We know we disobeyed you and we're ready for whatever punishment you see fit." Ryan cut in, not meeting Sandy or Kirsten's angry eyes.

"After we specifically told you not to do anything like this you go ahead and do it anyway. I can't tell you how angry and disappointed I am in the two of you," Sandy said.

Seth and Ryan looked down at the floor.

"The two of you will clean up this room until it's spotless. And along with it, you'll be cleaning the rest of the house. You can't use the car, no PlayStation, no TV, no computers, and no girls. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Seth said as Ryan nodded.

"Don't get smart with me Seth. The two of you are in big trouble. I mean it. You can start cleaning up this room now. I want it clean by the time I go to bed tonight. Your mother and I are going to go determine how long you boys will be grounded." Sandy walked out of the room.

"I'm really disappointed in you guys." Kirsten added before going out the same way her husband had.

"Well, I have to say that wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. Let me tell you, when my dad gets mad he turns into the hulk. Minus the shirt ripping off, thank God. And his muscles don't instantly grow either. And he doesn't turn green. So he doesn't actually turn into the hulk but figuratively speaking he does."

"Seth, were you listening to what they just said? How can you think we're not in trouble?"

"No, I know we're in trouble. But I was just expecting something a lot worse. Like maybe being condemned to sleep in a cellar or something."

"Do you even have a cellar?"

"No, but it's the scariest sounding room I could think of. It wouldn't sound anywhere near as dramatic if I had said we'd be condemned to sleeping in the guest room."

Ryan sighed. "Lets start cleaning this up."

The two brothers worked together to straighten the bed and then began picking up clothes and cosmetics. After an hour straight of cleaning, the room looked like it had before Sandy and Kirsten left.

"I have to say man, we're good. We managed to straighten out this room and when we started it looked like a herd of water polo players had gotten in here. Actually I bet that's how this room ended up this way."

"Let's go get your parents. They probably want to make sure we did a good enough job."

"Ry, this room is spotless, there's no chance in hell it's not good enough for them."

Ryan walked out of the bedroom closely followed by Seth.

As they walked by the front door on their way to the kitchen Ryan noticed a person standing on the outside of the door.

"Hold on Seth. There's someone at the door."

Ryan walked up to the door and opened it. Marissa was standing there in a denim mini skirt and a blue Lacoste shirt. As usual, Ryan thought she looked stunning.

"Hey, Marissa. What's up?" he asked after pulling her into a kiss.

"I just wanted to come by and see if you were able to come down to the pier with me. Are Sandy and Kirsten back yet?" she asked stepping into the doorway.

"Um, it might be better if we went around the back. Seth, can you just say I went back to the pool house to get a sweater or something?" He asked turning to face Seth, who was still standing there.

"Yeah, sure. But don't take to long."

"I won't," he assured Seth. "Come on let's go." Ryan closed the door behind him once he and Marissa had gotten outside.

"So how come we can't go through the house? I thought you guys cleaned up everything." Marissa asked leaning into Ryan.

Before turning the corner to the backyard Ryan stuck his head around the edge to make sure they were out of view.

"Well, we thought we did. But we forgot Sandy and Kirsten's room."

"Ouch." Marissa scrunched up her face in sympathy. "Are you guys grounded?"

"If we aren't then I'll be very surprised. But I didn't see you at all last night and I'm willing to risk adding a week's grounding if I get to spend a little bit more time with you." He smiled at her as he pulled her into a kiss.

"Yeah, where were you last night? I was looking for you."

"I don't exactly remember."

"What do you mean you don't remember?"

"I think I was drunk."

Marissa laughed. "You? You know, I don't think I've ever seen you drunk. I'm sorry I missed out on it."

"It's nothing great. Seth told me I just had a slur and told him that I loved him."

Marissa laughed again. "Then I'm really sorry I missed it. I love hearing you say you love people. Especially me."

"I…..love……you." Ryan said in between kisses.

Marissa smiled against his lips. "Glad to hear it. I love it when you say that." Marissa put her hands in his hair pulling him even closer to her body. "And for the record," she said pulling away for a second and looking into his eyes, "I love you to."

Ryan smiled. "Glad to hear it."

When they reached the pool house Ryan had his arm draped around her waist and Marissa was leaning into him.

"Aren't we pretty visible to Sandy and Kirsten right now? I thought they were in the kitchen." Marissa asked, glancing towards the house.

"Seth said he'd cover for me. He probably knew that we were coming here so I guess he took them into another room. They're not there. At least I can't see them." Ryan said looking over towards the main house.

"Well, let's get inside just in case."

Ryan opened the door and walked in after Marissa.

When he closed the door behind him and turned around he jumped. Sandy was standing there with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face.

"Ryan. Say goodbye to Marissa. I want to talk to you."

Ryan turned around to face Marissa. She gave him a small smile before quickly pecking him on the cheek and rushing out the door. Ryan turned around to face Sandy who was still wearing the same pissed off expression on his face.

"Did we not tell you just an hour ago that you weren't allowed to see the girls for a while?"

"Um, yeah. Uh, I actually was coming to get my sweater though, and I uh, saw her so I said hi."

"And asked if she wanted to come back to the pool house."

"Sorry." Ryan said, looking down.

"Not only were you just grounded, you also know the rule of not having a girl in the pool house if Kirsten or I don't know about it. So you just broke two of the rules that you should know. You've just added a week to your punishment."

Ryan didn't say anything but continued to stare at his feet.

"I expected better of you, Ryan. I'm really disappointed in you. You're grounded for 5 weeks and Seth will be grounded for 4. I expect you to be in the house for dinner in 25 minutes. Don't leave the pool house until then." With that Sandy left the pool house leaving Ryan standing with his hands in his pockets and his head facing the floor.

He walked over to his bed and sat down. Even under the circumstances he couldn't keep the smile off his face. Marissa had looked so beautiful this evening and now he couldn't get her out of his head. Not that he could usually but now it seemed more then ever. With every day he fell more in love with her.

Ryan's default ring tone shook him from his thoughts of Marissa. He looked over at the caller I.D and saw that it was the main house. Confused, he picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dude, what did The Sandman say? I tried to keep him away but he didn't buy the sweater thing. He said that it was 25 degrees and you didn't need a sweater so he went out to the pool house to see where you were. I tried to stop him, I swear," Seth said in one breath.

"I just got grounded for an extra week. No big deal."

"No big deal! Are you insane? I'm grounded for a month and I don't think I'm going to make it. That's a whole 30 days without my babies."

"Your babies?"

"Yeah, Play Station, my music, TV, and every other single luxury we have in this house. I have nothing left to do other then read. Maybe now would be a good chance to re-start Atomic County. I have some good story lines in mind for Kid Chino and The Ironist to have. Such as a crazy party and the torture the parental figures will put them through when they get home. This can be like an autobiography only in graphic novel form. How awesome would that be?"

"Wait, are we allowed to use the phone?"

"No, but just make sure you're not near a window. And don't talk too loud. And if they come in and you're on the phone say you're ordering a pizza or something."

"Why would I be ordering a pizza?"

"Uh, because your hungry. God Ryan, you are so dim sometimes."

"Thanks Seth."

"I was joking, man. But dinner's soon so we should probably get off the phone. I'm sure mom or dad will be in soon to tell us both dinner's ready."

"Are you in your room right now?"

"Yes I am. If you moved over to the window facing the ocean I'd be able to see you. I'll see you at dinner."

"Okay, see y…"

"Ryan, sweetie. Din….were you on the phone?"

Ryan froze with the phone still next to his ear.

"Um……well, yes."

"Why? We just told you that there was no phone allowed." Kirsten said crossing he arms and putting on a stern voice.

Ryan thought frantically. He said the first thing that came to his head. "Uh, I was just ordering a pizza. I was hungry."

Kirsten looked confused. "Didn't Sandy tell you that dinner was almost ready?"

"Yeah but uh, I wanted to order, um, a small pizza, uh, because I was really hungry. And you know, for like…..snacks……you know, like during the night" He put a hand on his stomach for effect.

Kirsten stared at him for a minute. "I just want you to know that I don believe you for a second, but I think your punishments long enough as it is. I won't tell Sandy about this but if I catch you on the phone again you can expect something much worse."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome. Dinner's ready so I want you to come in now. We're having dinner as a family tonight."

"Okay." Ryan followed Kirsten out the door and into the main house. The two of them walked into the kitchen to find Seth sitting at the table with his head down and Sandy glaring at the top of his sons head.

"What happened?" Kirsten sighed as she sat down opposite Sandy.

"When I went in to tell Seth dinner was ready, I found him on the phone."

Kirsten looked over at Ryan. Ryan looked over at Seth.

"Oh, well I think we can let this go. But Seth?" Seth looked up from the spot on his lap he had been staring at and looked at his mother. "If this happens again you're in even bigger trouble. Understood?"

Seth nodded.

The dinner was a silent affair aside from the clanging of knives and forks and the occasional cough.

"So," Ryan started. "How was your trip?"

"It was good. Would have been even better if we came back to a clean bedroom." Sandy replied. Ryan looked down.

"Sandy, they've learned their lesson. They're grounded and they won't do it again. Let's just try to have a nice dinner now okay?" Kirsten said staring at her husband.

"Okay. I'm sorry, Ryan. It was good, thanks for asking. You should see the San Fernando Valley from where we were. The hotel we stayed in was amazing. The view was absolutely beautiful. We got pictures to show you boys."

"That sounds cool, dad." Seth spoke up. "Why'd you go somewhere so close to home?"

"We just wanted a little getaway. Nothing big. And besides we only had 2 days." Kirsten said.

"So you boys want to tell us a little bit more about your weekend?" Sandy asked.

Seth and Ryan glanced at each other. "Uh……"

"I already know about the little party you had. You made it pretty obvious," Sandy said. "What I really want to know is how Ryan got that shiner."

Okay, here's the next chapter! I hope you liked it. Please review! The end was kind of rushed but my dad was making me get off the computer since I spend way too much time on it. Lol. So sorry about the ending. Thanks for reading! You can expect the next chapter to be up soon. Sometime in the next week for sure.

Next chapter: how is Ryan going to explain his shiner? And more Ryan/Marissa.


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